CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team secured the No. 2 seed and a two-round bye straight to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the second year in a row after toppling New Orleans in a 73-60 revenge Monday night at the American Bank Center.
Only up by two at the half, the Islanders (20-10, 13-4 SLC) pulled away from the Privateers (9-21, 4-13 SLC) out of the break after significantly improving their shooting from a 37.84 clip in the first to a 55.17 mark in the second. It avenged A&M-Corpus Christi's previous loss to New Orleans this year on the road.
It is the third game in a row that A&M-Corpus Christi bucketed 30+ field goals. It also extends the Islanders' winning streak to six, with each being won by double figures.
Junior
Garry Clark, the reigning SLC Player of the Week, turned in his third straight 20+ scoring game after turning in another 21-point performance off a 9-of-17 shooting night. He also notched the double-double with 10 rebounds.
Clark has either recorded 10+ points or 10+ rebounds in 15 SLC game this season, now recording a double-double in five of them.
Nearing that was senior
Dayne Prim who came off the bench to finish with 18 points and six rebounds despite running into early foul trouble. He was 8-of-11 from the floor and also recorded his season-high of four steals.
After New Orleans got the jump first, the Islanders finally took a lead at 14:07 with the putback by sophomore
Stephen Giwa for a 10-8 lead. Though, the Privateers reversed it and held on until Clark converted on junior
Dian Wright-Forde's takeaway to get the Islanders back on top 18-17 with 9:27 to go. Clark then flushed it away on the next possession to stay ahead by one.
Junior
Jordan Roberts pulled up and finally sank one from three for the Islanders at 7:44 for a 24-19 advantage. Junior
Tedrick Washington Jr. then swished the catch and shoot three at 4:19 to up it to 28-21 before the Privateers got back within a possession at the half 32-30.
New Orleans opened the scoring once again with a long-range shot to get back ahead to start the second. An 8-2 run in response quickly remedied that as Clark got up for the slam home once again at 14:37 to get the Islanders ahead 40-35. On back-to-back possessions, Prim got in for the steal before getting it to Wright-Forde who took it to the rim both times for a 44-35 lead.
The nagging wouldn't go away as New Orleans threatened within two with 7:41 to go, but the Islanders went on with authority, getting up to a double figure lead at 4:23 off the second chance bucket by Prim. Sophomore
Owen Dease did the same at 3:17 for a 65-51 score to cap a 10-0 scoring run.
In his first year at the helm, head coach
Jim Shaw has now led the Islanders to a 20-win season and a double-bye in the SLC Tournament as he continues the success since first coming to the Island in 2021 under former head coach Steve Lutz. The program has now posted three straight 20+ win seasons, all coming with Shaw on staff.
With one game remaining, Shaw has the opportunity to either match or break the best regular season record of a first-year head coach as Lutz led the Islanders to a 20-11 record in the 2021-22 season.
That opportunity will come Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. as the Islanders host UIW in the season finale before heading to Lake Charles next week for the conference tournament.
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