CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In a heart-breaking finish, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team fell in the final seconds to McNeese 62-61 Monday night in the American Bank Center.
The Islanders (11-8, 4-2 SLC) took a one-point lead into the second-half where they came out of the gate hot with a 17-0 scoring run, holding McNeese (17-2, 6-0 SLC) scoreless for the first seven minutes. Though, the Cowboys answered with a run of their own to tie it at 58-all. Free throws kept the Islanders ahead 61-59 with under 10 second remaining, but McNeese got a chance at the charity strip where they managed to get the contested putback on the miss to win at the buzzer.
The game-long fight came between the top two teams in the league, who entered the night combining to lead the league in scoring defense, scoring margin, FG% defense, rebounding margin, turnover margin, and steals. The Islanders outshot McNeese 37.7 percent to 36.8 percent from the field, while also holding a 41-39 edge on the glass.
The free throw line was not kind to either team, who both missed 10 on the night including the final attempt from each. It was a battle on the floor and despite A&M-Corpus Christi having a 30-26 advantage in the paint, McNeese converted on three more shots from beyond-the-arc.
A&M-Corpus Christi was paced by the 18-point performance from junior
Jordan Roberts, as the third-year returner found a familiar rhythm in conference play. He bucketed six field goals including a pair from the three-point arc. Redshirt sophomore
Stephen Giwa contributed 10 points after going perfect from the field (4-4).
Junior
Garry Clark, who was named the SLC Player of the Week entering the game, neared yet another double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points.
McNeese was led by DJ Richards with 12 points. Shahada Wells, who entered the game ranked second in the league in pgg (18.9), was held to 10 points against the Islanders.
The Cowboys got started with the three before Clark responded with authority, getting the Islanders on the board with the driving one-handed slam. Roberts netted the jumper to pull out in front at 17:09 but neither team could maintain a steady advantage as both exchanged the lead off possessions.
McNeese led by 25-19 at 7:14 before senior
Lance-Amir Paul chipped into it with the jumper in the paint. He followed it up with a deflection on the other end before swinging it out to redshirt senior
Dayne Prim who connected for the three to get within one. Paul then drew the foul and sank both free throws to take a 28-27 lead with 3:48 left in the half. The lead would be exchanged twice more as the putback by Giwa gave the Islanders the 31-30 lead at the break.
Settled in, the Islanders hit back-to-back threes from Roberts and redshirt sophomore
Owen Dease to get out to a 37-30 lead in the second half. The barrage continued as graduate
Marion Humphrey grabbed the takeaway before dishing it to Roberts on the fastbreak. Roberts drilled another three as it was all Islanders 43-30 at 17:55.
McNeese finally got a point off a free throw before making a pair of threes their own to initiate a future 19-6 run to get within five at 6:54. The Cowboys continued to chip away, making it a one-possession game at 57-54 with 4:44 to go. Clark added a point from the charity strip but McNeese added two on their end before a lay-in tied things up at 58 at 3:18. It came down to free throws as the Islanders held a 61-59 lead with under 10 seconds to play, but McNeese got fouled for a chance to tie and instead got their putback for the last second win.
The Islanders will have to shake this one off before hitting the road to face Northwestern State Saturday and Texas A&M-Commerce next Monday as they near the end of the first half of the conference slate.
NOTES
- The Islanders still hold a lead in the all-time record over McNeese, now with a 19-6 advantage over the Cowboys. It was A&M-Corpus Christi's first loss to McNeese since 2013-13 and just their second ever time losing to them at home.
- It is the first time in the last two seasons that the Islanders lost when holding the opposition to under 70 points, who were previously an undefeated 26-0 when doing so.
- Roberts registered his eighth double figure scoring game of the season, 14
th in his career, and fifth in the last six games. He is averaging 11.7 ppg in league play compared to his 3.9 mark last year.
- Clark recorded his ninth double figure rebounding game of the year. He has recorded either 10+ points or 10+ rebounds in every SLC game this year. He has recorded a double-double in three of those games.
- Giwa submitted just his second double figure scoring game of the season and sixth in his career. It is the third time he has gone a perfect 4-of-4 from the field this year.
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