CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Tied with 4:36 remaining, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program prevailed in crunch time to defeat McNeese 60-56 on Thursday at the American Bank Center.
It was a back-and-forth affair that featured eight lead changes. A&M-Corpus Christi (15-4, 2-0 SLC) withstood at 19-0 run from McNeese (7-12, 1-1 SLC) which carried over from the end of the first half to the start of the second.
The Islanders remained undefeated at home this season where they are 8-0.
A pair of Islanders recorded double-doubles. Junior
Isaac Mushila registered 18 points and matched his career-high with 17 rebounds. Senior
De'Lazarus Keys tallied 12 points and 10 rebounds. The duo helped A&M-Corpus Christi post a 44-38 rebounding advantage.
The Cowboys were led by Christian Shumate who ended with 19 points and six rebounds. Zach Scott was 4-of-6 from long-range and finished with 13 points.
A&M-Corpus Christi scored the first eight points of the game including six from Mushila. The Islanders led 14-7 at the 12:11 mark after Mushila drilled a three. A&M-Corpus Christi took its largest lead of the game 28-18 after senior
San Antonio Brinson hit a jumper with 4:46 left.
McNeese finished the half on an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to 28-26 at the intermission. The Cowboys then opened the second half on an 11-0 spurt to leap ahead 37-28.
The Islanders answered with a 10-0 run to regain a 38-37 edge after senior
Simeon Fryer nailed a three from the corner with 12:27 to go. A seesaw battle ensued until McNeese went back in front 48-44 with 8:21 left.
A&M-Corpus Christi responded with five straight points from senior
Trevian Tennyson to lead 49-48 with 6:45 remaining. After the Cowboys tied it 51-51, Mushila converted on back-to-back buckets and Tennyson drove for a lay-up to go up 57-51 at the 2:13 mark.
A three-point play by the Cowboys cut it to 59-56 with under a minute left but A&M-Corpus Christi made a pair of stops defensively in the end to stop McNeese from scoring again.
A&M-Corpus Christi will wrap-up the weekend at the American Bank Center at 3:30 p.m. Saturday when it hosts HBU. The game can be watched live with a subscription on ESPN+ with
Steven King on the call.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi has tripled its win total from last season where it finished 5-19 overall.
- The Islanders improved to 15-5 all-time against McNeese and have won 12 consecutive meetings, including the third-place game at the SLC Preseason Tipoff earlier this year. A&M-Corpus Christi is also 10-1 all-time against the Cowboys at home.
- A&M-Corpus Christi entered the game ranked top-20 in the nation in steals per game (9.4) and were right on par with nine.
- The Islanders improved to 11-0 this season when leading at half and 11-0 when holding the opposition to under 70 points.
- A&M-Corpus Christi had two student-athletes with a double-double in the same game for the first time since March 11, 2017 when Rashawn Thomas and Ehab Amin did it against McNeese.
- Mushila notched his sixth double-double of the year. It was his 15th double-figure scoring game and seventh double-digit rebounding affair. Mushila matched his career-best 17 rebounds set against UTSA earlier this season.
- Keys turned in his second career double-double. He etched his ninth career double-figure scoring game and fifth double-digit rebounding performance. Keys hit six field goals which tied a season-high.
- Tennyson continued his streak of hitting a three-pointer in every game this year.
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