SAN ANTONIO – Completing the season sweep over UIW, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball program closed out an 80-71 win Saturday at the McDermott Center.
It was the second win this week for A&M-Corpus Christi (10-6, 3-0 SLC) over UIW (6-10, 0-3 SLC) after posting a 91-61 victory at home on Wednesday.
The Islanders led nearly the entire way and built an 18-point lead in the second half. The Cardinals made a late charge in the final minutes, but it wasn't enough as A&M-Corpus Christi was able to hold them off in the end.
Senior
Terrion Murdix matched his career-high with 21 points and tied his season-high with eight assists. He was 7-of-12 from the field and drilled a career-high three long-range shots.
Graduate
Ross Williams also had a hot hand and finished with 18 points and was 4-of-7 from beyond-the-arc. In his hometown of San Antonio, senior
Jalen Jackson stepped up with 14 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Also reaching double-figures was senior
Trevian Tennyson with 13 points.
The Islanders shot 11-of-24 (.458) from three-point range. The 11 makes were one short of their season-high.
UIW garnered 15 points from Luca Barei off the bench. Brandon Swaby and Stephon Payne III scored 12 apiece. The Cardinals shot .500 (25-50) from the field as a team.
The Islanders trailed 8-4 early - their only deficit of the game - when they went on a big 14-0 run as a field goal by freshman
Jourdyn Grandberry made it 18-8, forcing a UIW timeout at the 12:00 mark. A lay-up by Williams extended it to 27-15 with 8:06 remaining.
UIW made a run to cut it to 35-28, but A&M-Corpus Christi ended the half with a jumper by sophomore
Jordan Roberts, followed by a steal and lay-in by Jackson in the closing seconds to lead 39-28.
The Cardinals chipped into the deficit 48-41 early in the second, but the Islanders used a pair of threes by Williams and two buckets in the post by junior
Jasman Sangha to go back up 60-45 with 12:20 left.
A three-pointer in the corner by Jackson extended it to 67-49 with 8:02 to go, which was the largest lead of the game.
Still up 76-62, UIW didn't go down without a fight as a 9-0 spurt trimmed it to 76-71 with 41 seconds left. Though, a big dunk by senior
De'Lazarus Keys ended the run and the Islanders didn't allow another point defensively.
The Islanders will return home Thursday when they host Southeastern at 7:30 p.m. at the American Bank Center. A&M-Corpus Christi is 7-0 at home this year with all wins by double figures.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi improved to 13-6 all-time against UIW, 6-4 on the road and 4-0 under head coach
Steve Lutz.
- The Islanders are off to a 3-0 start in conference for the first time since 2015-16.
- A&M-Corpus Christi is now 148-124 all-time in the Southland Conference since joining the league in 2006-07.
- The Islanders are 7-0 this year when they shoot above 33 percent from three-point range.
- A&M-Corpus Christi entered the game leading the conference in scoring defense (71.5 ppg) and were right on par by limiting UIW to 71 points.
- Murdix matched his career-high of 21 points set twice last season. It was his 26th career double-figure scoring game and fourth 20-plus outing. Murdix has scored at least 16 points in all three conference games. He entered the game leading the SLC in assists (4.2 apg) and dished out eight.
- Williams continued his hot streak and is now 19-of-37 (.514) from three-point range over the last six games. He tallied his eighth double-figure scoring game of the year and second in three conference games.
- Jackson registered his 11th career double-figure scoring game and fourth this year. He was 5-of-6 from the floor.
- Tennyson submitted his 31st career double-digit scoring outing, 11th this season and third in a row. He's shooting .500 (8-16) from three-point range in conference.
- It was the second year in a row the Islanders played a team in back-to-back games after doing so against New Orleans last season. Prior to last year, A&M-Corpus Christi hadn't gone back-to-back against the same opponent since beating UT Arlington consecutively in 2008-09.
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