CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Continuing to near the end of the regular season, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team got off on a high note in its final three-game stretch with an 80-68 win over Southeastern Saturday at the American Bank Center.
The Islanders (19-10, 12-4 SLC) took just a one-point lead into the locker room before coming out of the half firing for a 62.5 percent mark in the final 20 minutes to pull away from the Lions (14-15, 9-7 SLC). It added another reason to celebrate as it was the annual Homecoming game as well as Senior Day.
It is the third game in a row that the Islanders shot over 50 percent from the field with a 55.6 (30-of-54) clip tonight. They are now 26-0 over the last three seasons when shooting over .500 FG%.
Individually, it is the second straight 20+ performance for junior
Garry Clark who led the team with 21 points after going 10-of-14 from the field. He has made at least 10 field goals in three of the last five games and is the only Islander this year to record back-to-back 20+ scoring games.
He was one of four in doubles figures, as junior
Tedrick Washington Jr. was one point shy of 20 after shooting 3-of-6 from three. Junior
Dian Wright-Forde finished with 15 points while sophomore
Owen Dease tacked on 14.
Washington and Wright-Forde greatly contributed to the 37 total bench points tonight, as the Islanders entered the night ranked #3 overall in the NCAA in bench points per game (35.45).
It was a low-scoring affair for nearly the first five minutes of the game until Washington drilled the long-range shot at 15:10 for a 7-1 lead. It spurred more of an offensive awakening on both ends as the teams exchanged buckets through a 15-14 game at 10:57. Southeastern took a two-point lead off a three of their own before Washington rectified it on the fastbreak lay-in and Wright-Forde backed him with a three at 7:34 to put the Islanders back on top.
Back-to-back buckets from Wright-Forde kept A&M-Corpus Christi a head in front of the Lions 24-21 with 5:33 to go in the half. Dease then took his turn going deep at 3:45 to push it to a 29-23 game but the Lions fought back within one. Though, Washington took the shot from way downtown at 2:35 to extend it back up before Dease slammed it home off the takeaway from Clark for a 34-28 lead.
After the Lions had fought within one before the break, they managed to get back to a tie after a gimme free throw to start the second. The Islanders were able to answer with a 7-0 run capped by the shot from beyond the arc from senior
Dayne Prim at 18:31 for a 43-36 lead. Southeastern would claw their way within a possession at 15:43 but it was the only striking distance they got as the Islanders built on their separation from there.
It started with another fastbreak dunk from Dease off the feed from graduate
Marion Humphrey, one of his six assists on the day. Washington then pulled up to net his third three of the day as they got up to a 52-42 lead at 13:10. Washington then score on the steal at 10:15 to push it to 60-47 and a pair of free throws from Prim at 8:46 helped ensure the lead stay over +10 the remainder of the way.
The Islanders will continue its journey towards the SLC Tournament with just two more games in the way. They will face New Orleans Monday night at 7 p.m. before closing out the regular season Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. both at the American Bank Center.
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