COMMERCE, Texas – After a slow first half of play, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team recovered well in the second to move past Texas A&M-Commerce 69-54 Monday night at the Field House.
After just 24 points in the first, the Islanders (13-8, 6-2 SLC) rallied in the second to amass 45 points and finish off A&M-Commerce (7-13, 1-6 SLC) with the 15-point difference. It is the second largest margin of victory in conference play for the Islanders this year after beating Houston Christi by 22 in the SLC opener.
A&M-Corpus Christi shot 46.2 percent from beyond-the-arc after setting its season-high three-point percentage two days ago against Northwestern State (47.4). They held the Lions to just a 26.7 clip from three, a mark that will improve on their league-leading three-point defense.
Junior
Garry Clark settled in in the second half where he scored 14 of his 18 points to end as the leading scorer on the night. A final rebound on A&M-Commerce's last shot got Clark to the double-double.
Three others joined Clark in double figures, as junior
Tedrick Washington Jr. lit up from the arc with four threes to get to 13 points. Seniors
Dayne Prime and
Lance-Amir Paul each made seven free throws to help get to double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The charity strip was a huge difference maker as the teams were evened on the floor, but A&M-Corpus Christi got 22 more free throw attempts than the Lions. The Islanders shot 30 free throws in the second half alone.
The Islanders couldn't get things going until four minutes in, but Washington found that sweet spot and hit not one, not two, but three three-pointers in a row for a 9-2 lead. Humphrey drew the and-one to extend it to 12-4 before Dease drove inside for the 10-point advantage with 12:37 to go.
The Lions cut it back down to a one-possession game but the contested layup from Giwa kept the Islanders ahead 17-12. He upped it to 21-15 with a pair of made free throws after getting fouled on the putback at 5:41. Neither team could do much the last five minutes of the half except A&M-Commerce cutting it to a one-point game before Clark swished the second-chance three at the buzzer for a 24-20 lead at the break.
Washington nailed his fourth long-range shot of the night with the pullup three to start the second half. The Lions kept it within three before the and-one by Clark upped it back up to a 30-24 advantage at 17:51. Prim went 4-4 from the free throw line from there to get the Islanders back to a 10-point lead and the sidestep three from Paul got A&M-Corpus Christi up 37-24 with 14:47 on the clock.
The scoring unloaded from there, with Prim going coast to coast for the lay-in at 10:22 for a 47-34 lead. Dease slammed home the dunk in transition at 9:25 to make it 50-36 and back-to-back layups from Clark pushed it to 58-45 with 4:29 to go.
Showing off some more, Humphrey deflected for the steal and connected to Clark who floated for the one-handed slam dunk and a 62-48 lead with 2:34 remaining.
The Islanders will play Lamar on Saturday to close out the top half of the conference schedule, having next Monday off. It will be played at home in the American Bank Center at 3:30 p.m. CT.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi now leads A&M-Commerce 2-1 in the all-time series after first playing each other last year. It is the second year in a row the Islanders won on the road against the Lions after winning 93-88 last season in the regular season finale to clinch the outright ownership of the SLC Regular Season title.
- The Islanders are now 28-1 over the last two seasons when holding the opposition to 70 points or less. They have held seven Southland opponents to less than 70 points this year.
- The Islanders entered the night leading the league in rebounding margin (+7.6) and will improve after outrebounding the Lions 40-32. At least seven different Islanders have grabbed a rebound in every game this year.
- Clark registered his eighth double-double, 13
th double figure scoring game, and 10
th 10+ rebounding game of the year. Minus one game, he was either recorded 10+ points or 10+ rebounds in every SLC game this season, recording a double-double in four of them.
- Washington recorded his fourth double figure scoring game of the season and second in a row. His 13 points matched his career-high, set in just the previous game at Northwestern State. His four made three-pointers is a new career best.
- Prim turned in his fourth double digit scoring game of the year and second in a row. His three blocks tonight is a season-high and one shy of his career best.
- Paul submitted his ninth 10+ scoring game of the year, second in the last five games, and third in conference play.
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