LAKE CHARLES, La. – In a contested battle that extended deep into the night, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team fell just short to No. 3 Nicholls 81-73 in overtime of the SLC Semifinals Tuesday night at the Legacy Center.
The Islanders (21-11, 14-4 SLC) struggled with foul trouble all game, as three players fouled out through the physical game with Nicholls (20-13, 13-5 SLC) that featured 47 fouls and five technicals. It resulted in the Colonels getting to the line for 33 free throws while the Islanders shot just 21 from the stripe.
The emotion-filled night got off with the Islanders jumping first before Nicholls backed a 16-2 scoring run to get ahead by as much as 12 in the first half. With just over two minutes until the break, the Islanders responded with equal fight to pull within five before outscoring the Colonels 39-34 in the second to force overtime. From there, the Colonels came away with just enough plays down the stretch to get away from the No. 2 Islanders.
It wasn't without a decent shooting night for the Islanders, who bucketed eight three-pointers off a 33.3 percent clip. Junior
Garry Clark got his threes to fall as the SLC All-Conference First-Team selection went 3-of-6 from long-range. He finished with a team-high 17 points before getting called on his fifth foul in the second half.
Junior
Jordan Roberts turned in 16 points and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Sophomore
Owen Dease found a familiar rhythm in conference tournament play with 13 points while junior
Dian Wright-Forde added 12 points.
The first five went A&M-Corpus Christi's way as Clark got inside for the first possession bucket before Roberts went deep at 18:42 for the advantage. Nicholls would get back within one, but Clark kept a slight 7-4 edge with the jumper in the paint at 15:12. From there, the Islanders began to peddle back as Nicholls emerged with a 16-2 scoring run to go up by 32-20 with just 2:39 left in the half.
Dease wouldn't back down, as the returner broke the skid with a contested inside shot before going deep on the next possession to chip back within 37-25. With under a minute to go, Clark got in for the steal before Wright-Forde completed the play with the inside lay-in. Sophomore
Kam Parker then drilled the three at 0:26 to create just a 35-30 deficit as the half.
Four straight free throws from Roberts made it just a one-point game in the second. He set up the opportunity that Clark and graduate
Marion Humphrey took advantage of, as Humphrey forced the takeaway before Clark got up for the and-one at the rim.
The lead was short-lived, as the team exchanged the advantage throughout the second but after playing from behind for most of the second, the Islanders remained squared with Nicholls at 69-all by the end of regulation.
A free throw pulled Nicholls ahead by one early in the extra minutes, and they would hold on to the edge the whole way as the shots wouldn't fall for the Islanders down the final stretch.
It is the first SLC tournament loss that A&M-Corpus Christi has suffered since head coach
Jim Shaw joined the staff back in the 2021-22 season. Though, it comes after Shaw guided the program to the best regular season record under a first-year head coach as he led the Islanders to 21 wins, the second most by any rookie head coach in the NCAA Division I landscape this year.
The Islanders will now await the possibility of a postseason tournament appearance.
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