SLC Championship Bracket
SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program used a late run to oust UIW for a 77-68 victory Saturday on the road against UIW at the McDermott Center.
With the win, A&M-Corpus Christi (20-11, 7-7 SLC) solidified the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament, finished in the top half of the league and earned a first round bye to the quarterfinals.
The Islanders trailed 64-61 with 5:40 left when they went on a decisive 10-0 run to lead 70-64 with 3:21 remaining. A&M-Corpus Christi then outscored UIW (7-24, 3-11 SLC) 7-4 the rest of the way to thwart any possible comeback attempt.
The Islanders shot a conference-high .565 (26-46) from the field. Junior
Trevian Tennyson paved the way with 19 points including a trio of threes.
A&M-Corpus Christi garnered four double-figure scorers. Junior
Terrion Murdix recorded 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Senior
De'Lazarus Keys and junior
Jalen Jackson netted 11 points and Keys also grabbed nine rebounds.
The Islanders dominated the paint where they outscored the Cardinals 30-16.
UIW was paced by Drew Lutz's 22 points. RJ Glasper ended with 16 points and Benjamin Griscti scored 14 off the bench.
It was a shooting contest early as six of the first seven made field goals combined between the two teams were threes. A three by Tennyson had the Islanders up 11-10, and lay-ups by senior
San Antonio Brinson and Murdix increased it to 15-10 at the 13:22 mark. A lay-in by junior
Isaac Mushila had the team up 19-12, and another three by Tennyson made it 24-16 with 9:05 left.
A three from the corner by senior
Myles Smith kept the Islanders up 30-23 as UIW called timeout with 6:07 to go. The teams exchanged buckets the rest of the half with the Islanders leading 39-31 at the intermission. A&M-Corpus Christi shot 14-of-22 (.636) in the first half.
Keys opened the second half with a put-back to put the team up 10, but a pair of threes by Glasper sparked a 12-0 run for UIW to go up 46-43 at the 14:55 mark. Still down 49-45, Smith nailed a three and sophomore
Stephen Faramade threw down a dunk to regain a 50-49 edge with 12:12 remaining.
Tied at 52, UIW hit back-to-back threes to take a 58-52 edge with 9:26 to go. Though, the Islanders came right back with a three by Tennyson and a pair of free throws by Jackson to trail 62-61 with 6:00 left.
A&M-Corpus Christi took a 67-64 lead at the 4:04 mark after four consecutive free throws by Tennyson. The Islanders extended it to 70-64 with 3:21 left a bucket and the foul by Murdix and a free throw by senior
Simeon Fryer.
With under two minutes left, Jackson hit a jumper to beat the shot clock, grabbed a steal and scored another to increase it to 75-66 with 1:15 remaining.
The Islanders will play Thursday at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the SLC Tournament against the winner of fifth-seeded HBU and eighth-seeded UIW at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
NOTES
- The Islanders completed the season sweep over UIW after winning 80-64 at home. A&M-Corpus Christi is now 11-6 all-time against UIW.
- A&M-Corpus Christi has quadrupled its win total from last season when it finished 5-19 overall. The 15-game turnaround is the largest in program history.
- The Islanders posted their sixth 20-win season in program history and first since 2016-17. The program began in 1999-00.
- A&M-Corpus Christi improved to 14-0 this season when holding the opposition to 70 points or less.
- Tennyson tallied his 18th double-figure scoring game of the season. It was the 12th time that he hit at least a trio of threes in a game. Tennyson has drilled a three in every game this year.
- Murdix entered the game ranked third in the league in steals and swiped four. It was his 14th double-digit scoring performance of the season and third in a row. Murdix was 6-of-8 from the field.
- Keys was one rebound shy of his fourth career double-double. He submitted his 15th career double-figure scoring game and 12th this season. Keys was 5-for-7 from the floor.
- Jackson etched his seventh double-figure scoring game of the year. He was 4-of-6 from the field and hit a pair of free throws.
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