CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Sliding to a five-game winning streak, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team posted the 73-64 win over Northwestern State Monday night at the American Bank Center.
The Islanders (12-6, 5-1 SLC) have gotten hot for five consecutive wins now, all fueled by 50.0+ percent shooting from the field. They went 30-for-58 (.517) from the field tonight for the 12
th time this year to hit that high of a shooting mark, the most among any school in the country. It also marks A&M-Corpus Christi's 10
th home win of the year.
Defensively, is it the second game in a row that the Islanders locked down their opponent to just 20-something points in the first half, holding Northwestern State (7-9, 4-2 SLC) to just 25 points in the opening 20 minutes. A&M-Corpus Christi also held the edge on the glass, outrebounding the Demons 37-28.
The Demons would only see a lead within five minutes at the start of the game before the Islanders took over the early back-and-forth at 16-15 with the steal and score by freshman
Isaac Williams and never looked back. Back-to-back buckets from redshirt junior
Owen Dease capped an 8-0 run and the three-ball from redshirt senior
Jaden Walker gave the Islanders a double figure lead at 28-18.
A&M-Corpus Christi's biggest lead of the night came off the jumper from senior
Garry Clark for a 37-18 score with just 3:58 until the break and Williams netted one more before the buzzer as the home squad held the 41-25 advantage at the intermission.
Northwestern State came out with a pair of buckets to start the second but freshman
Damarion Dennis attempted to silence the spark with the shot beyond the arc in response. The Islanders continued to play with a double digit cushion until the Demons broke through with momentum to diminish their lead down to just seven at 13:17.
Clark and Williams took turns driving the lane for a triage of field goals to up the lead back up to 57-45 with 10:27 to go. Another spurt from the visitors got them within five points at 4:21, but Williams got up for the two-handed dunk at 3:40 and drew the and-one in the process to lead it 67-57 and help close out the victory.
Williams led the team in scoring for the third consecutive game, pouring in 19 points off a 9-of-15 shooting night. Clark was right behind him at 18 points and was one board shy of the double-double.
Clark has scored 10+ points in every game this season. Dating back to last year, he is now on a 25-game streak of scoring in double figures, which continues to be the longest active streak in the NCAA.
The Islanders will now take their momentum back on the road, making stops at UIW Saturday and HCU next Monday to continue conference play.
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