Islanders Encouraged by Second Half in Hard-Fought Game at Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program fought until the end Tuesday in a 79-71 final against Minnesota at Williams Arena.
 
The Islanders (9-2) withstood a red-hot shooting night from the Golden Gophers (9-1), who were 23-43 (.581) from the field, including 15-24 (.625) in the first half. Minnesota hit seven of its first eight shots and six of its first seven three-pointers.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi outscored Minnesota 44-33 in the second half. The Islanders forced 28 turnovers and grabbed a season-high 17 steals. It was against a team that entered the night ranked top-five in the nation in fewest turnovers per game. A&M-Corpus Christi held a big 28-6 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Junior Terrion Murdix poured in a game-high 18 points, which was one shy of his career-high. He was 7-of-12 from the field including 2-for-2 from three and also swiped three steals.
 
Recording a career-high five steals was junior Jalen Jackson who finished with 15 points. Junior Trevian Tennyson scored 11 points and junior Isaac Mushila 10.
 
Minnesota ended with four double-figure scorers. Payton Willis led the way with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 5-of-6 from long-range.
 
Mushila scored the first bucket of the game in the post, but Minnesota answered with an 11-0 run to take an early 11-2 lead. Still down 32-14, A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 9-0 run which included a pair of field goals by Jackson to cut it to 32-23 at the 4:58 mark.
 
Though, the Golden Gophers ended the half on an 8-0 spurt to carry a 46-27 lead into the break.
 
The Islanders fell behind 56-30 in the second when they came storming back. They used runs of 12-0 and 19-1 to make it a 57-49 game after a three by freshman Jordan Roberts with 12:18 remaining. The spurt included consecutive baskets by Murdix.
 

Murdix again! Islanders on a 12-0 run now.#ShakasUp pic.twitter.com/17mlagkxcQ

— Islanders Men's Basketball (@Islanders_MBB) December 15, 2021

A&M-Corpus Christi was only down 59-51 when the Golden Gophers went on a run of their own to go back up 74-57 with 4:56 left. The Islanders kept pushing though and got the deficit back down into single-figures 77-69 after a steal and lay-up by Jackson with 45 seconds left.
 
The Islanders will be back at home Tuesday when they host Lamar at 12 p.m. in the Dugan Wellness Center. A&M-Corpus Christi beat the Cardinals at home last year 77-68 as the two were former Southland Conference foes before Lamar moved to the WAC.
 
NOTES
- It was just the second-ever meeting between A&M-Corpus Christi and Minnesota. The Golden Gophers took the first one 65-44 in 2013-14. Minnesota also claims a win over "Corpus Christi" in 1972.
 
- The Islanders entered the night ranked top-10 in the nation in turnovers forced per game (18.80) and forced 28 in the game.

- The 17 steals surpassed the team's previous high of 14 against Southwestern.
 
- With a tie in fast break points 16-16, A&M-Corpus Christi has not been outscored in transition yet this season.
 
- With a three in the second half, Tennyson has hit a three-pointer in every game this year. It was his fourth double-figure scoring game of the season.
 
- Murdix hit a career-high seven field goals. It was his third double-figure scoring game of the year and second in a row after netting 19 at Omaha on Saturday.
 
- Jackson becomes the second student-athlete on the team to notch five steals in a game along with Murdix. He etched his fifth double-figure scoring game of the year and third in the last four games.
 
- Mushila was 5-of-7 from the field. He submitted his eighth double-digit scoring performance of the season.
 


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#ShakasUp