HOUSTON – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program couldn't cool off a hot-shooting HCU squad in a 90-78 final Saturday at Sharp Gym.
A&M-Corpus Christi (11-9, 4-3 SLC) fought the whole way, but HCU (7-13, 4-3 SLC) shot .538 from the field including .625 in the second half. The Huskies were also 11-of-22 (.500) from long range on the night.
On the other end, the Islanders were limited to a .371 clip and .296 from distance.
Senior
Trevian Tennyson tallied a game-high 25 points. He was 4-of-7 from beyond-the-arc and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Senior
Terrion Murdix registered 17 points and seven rebounds.
Also in double-figures was graduate
Ross Williams with 13 points. Senior
Isaac Mushila finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
The Huskies were paced by Maks Klanjscek's 20 points and six rebounds. Bonke Maring ended with 16 points and six rebounds, and Sam Hofman had 14 points.
HCU came out of the gates hot and built a 16-8 lead early. A pair of free throws by Mushila and a three by Tennyson cut it to 18-16 at the 9:48 mark. Though, the Huskies knocked down shots and pushed their advantage back up to 30-21 with 4:48 to go.
The Islanders finished the first half strong. Lay-ups by Murdix, Williams and Mushila in the final 2:13 helped trim the deficit to 39-38 at the intermission.
A&M-Corpus Christi took the lead early in the second 45-43 after a three in the corner by senior
Simeon Fryer. Though with the score tied 53-53, the Huskies scored six straight to go up 59-53 with 11:33 left.
The Huskies led 73-64 with 5:32 remaining when Murdix converted an old-fashion three-point play to make it 73-67. A pair of free throws by senior
Jalen Jackson further cut it to 75-72 with 4:16 to go.
However, A&M-Corpus Christi could not get any closer. HCU responded with five straight points to lead 80-72 with 3:27 remaining and stayed on top in the final minutes.
The Islanders will return home Thursday when they host Nicholls at 7:30 p.m. at the American Bank Center. The game can be watched live with a subscription to ESPN+ with Steven King on the call.
NOTES
- The Islanders moved to 13-6 all-time against HCU, 5-5 on the road and 2-2 under head coach
Steve Lutz. A&M-Corpus Christi knocked the Huskies out of the SLC Tournament last year in the quarterfinals 75-60 en route to winning the championship.
- With a 37-32 rebounding edge, A&M-Corpus Christi has outrebounded all seven conference opponents this season.
- It was the first time in conference play that the Islanders were trailing at the half.
- A&M-Corpus Christi is now 149-127 all-time in the Southland Conference since joining the league in 2006-07.
- Tennyson submitted his 35th career double-figure scoring game, 15th this season and seventh in a row. It was also his sixth career 20-plus performance, third this year and second in the last three games. Tennyson is shooting .519 (27-52) from three in conference play.
- Murdix notched his 30th career double-digit scoring performance, 13th this year and seventh in a row. He made a season-high nine free throws after going 9-of-11 from the line.
- Williams turned in his 10th double-figure scoring game of the year after nailing a trio of three-pointers.
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