SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Getting the conference slate started on a high note, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team came out on top 75-65 against UIW in the SLC opener Saturday night at the McDermott Center.
The Islanders (8-6, 1-0 SLC) built a 19-point lead at 8:05 in the second half before UIW (5-9, 0-1 SLC) began chipping into the cushion. Though, A&M-Corpus Christi never let the Cardinals get closer than eight, as they utilized costly turnovers down the stretch to finish with the double-digit margin of victory.
UIW just outshot the Islanders 34.2 to 43.1, but the latter held advantages elsewhere to outscore the Cardinals 40-24 in the paint, 23-12 off turnovers, and 16-9 in second chance points.
Five Islanders ended in double figures, with junior
Garry Clark ending with the 14-point, 10-rebound double-double. Senior
Lance-Amir Paul contributed 12 points while redshirt senior
Dayne Prim and juniors
Jordan Roberts and
Dian Wright-Forde all added 11.
Roberts netted three of the team's seven three-pointers in the game, as the Islanders shot 33.3 percent from beyond the arc where they held UIW to just a 27.8 clip.
UIW had Josiah Hammons sink four from long-range to finish with the game-high 19 points. Sky Wicks and Shon Robinson also ended in double figures for the Cardinals with 15 and 10, respectively.
On the inbound, graduate
Marion Humphrey pressured for the steal and got it to Roberts who laid in the first bucket for the Islanders. Clark showed his depth and nailed the long-range goal before kicking it out to Roberts who drilled the three on the next possession for the 10-7 lead at the first media timeout.
UIW showed momentum and reversed the score to go up 17-11 but threes from Paul and Wright-Forde helped put the Islanders back on top 19-17 at 10:29. Wright-Forde got his own putback at 8:37 to stay ahead 21-20 and a pair of takeaways had Prim score four for a 27-20 advantage. The Islanders kept pushing, going up 31-20 off Paul's layup at 4:42.
A&M-Corpus Christi continued to take advantage of UIW turnovers as Wright-Forde netted the step-back jumper for a 35-23 lead with 3:08 to go. Junior
Tedrick Washington Jr. under the net lay-in had the Islanders take a 38-29 lead into the locker room.
The alley-oop to redshirt sophomore
Stephen Giwa on the inbound got the Islanders started in the second half, holding a 40-31 lead. Roberts again from three made it a 43-33 game at 18:22 and was met with a deep shot from Prim for another three points. The 10-0 Islander run was capped with the layup by Wright-Forde as they led 50-33 at 15:25.
Prim connected with Clark who bucketed the floater with 11:42 to go before Prim's spin move got the Islanders to 58-43 at 11:05. Prim then cut it to Paul inside who laid it in for a 66-47 lead with under eight to play. The long-range shot from Roberts got him to double figures as the Islanders led it 72-56 before the Cardinals chipped away with a 7-0 run to threaten within nine.
With under a minute to play, both teams took trips to the free throw line and although UIW got the last shot off, it was A&M-Corpus Christi that came out on top with the 75-65 conference opening win.
The Islanders will return to Corpus Christi for the quick turnaround of the new Saturday-Monday schedule, hosting HCU in their SLC home opener Monday at 7 p.m. in the American Bank Center.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi moves to 14-6 all-time against UIW and a 7-4 edge when the teams play in San Antonio. The Islanders have swept the Cardinals in the yearly series for the last two seasons, making
Jim Shaw undefeated against UIW since joining the staff in 2021-22.
- The Islanders are now 23-0 over the last two seasons when holding the opposition to 70 points or less.
- The Islanders entered the game ranked 3
rd in the NCAA in bench points per game (40.54) and was above par with the bench contributing 41 points tonight. They also came in ranked 12th in turnovers forced per game (16.85) and 16th in fastbreak points (16.23), improving in both after forcing 20 turnover and scoring 18 fastbreak points.
- Clark registered his fifth double-double of the season and second in a row. It was also his eighth time this year scoring 10+ points and fourth in the last five games.
- Paul turned in his seventh 10+ scoring game of the season and second in the last four games. He entered the game second in the SLC in FT% () and will improve after going 5-of-6 from the line tonight.
- Prim knocked in just his second double figure scoring game of the season. Though, he recorded his season-high four assists in tonight's game.
- Roberts submitted his fourth 10+ scoring game of the year and 10
th in his career. It is the third time this season that he has made three three-pointers in a game.
- Wright-Forde registered his seventh double digit scoring game of the year, second in a row, and third in the last five games he's played in.
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