CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas A&M–Corpus Christi men's basketball team set a school record Saturday, scoring the most points in program history with a 122–75 win over Howard Payne in its first game back home in nearly three weeks.
The Islanders (2–4) overwhelmed the Yellow Jackets from the outset, shooting 71.4 percent in the first half and racing to a 63–43 lead at the break before continuing the onslaught with a 59-point second half. A&M–Corpus Christi dominated nearly every statistical category, finishing at 69.1 percent shooting for the game, hitting nine three-pointers and attacking the paint for 74 points inside.
Their 122 points mark the most scored in a game in program history, topping their previous best of 117 set just last year under head coach
Jim Shaw against Southwestern Adventist.
The win also marked the second-highest field goal percentage in a game by the Islanders, shooting just under their program best of 70.0 percent (42-60) also set last year against Prairie View A&M. The record previous to that was 67.2 (43-64) which came against Huston-Tillotson on February 22, 2006.
After Howard Payne scored the first basket of the game, the Islanders responded with a 14–2 run fueled by transition baskets from
Sheldon Williams and Nicholas Shogbonyo. Williams scored 11 of A&M–Corpus Christi's first 20 points.
A 10–0 surge midway through the half pushed the lead to double digits, and a 19–4 closing run highlighted by a pair of threes from
Kam Parker and another from
Mason Gibson sent the Islanders into halftime ahead by 20.
The Islanders continued to pull away early in the second half as
D'Avian Houston knocked down a long-range shot while
Franck Yetna and
Leo Torbor got inside buckets to extend the margin past 25.
Bryson Wheatfall's triple at the 9-minute mark made it 95-63 and the advantage never dipped below 30 which soon advanced to a 40+ point lead.
Cedric Horton came off the bench and showed off with the driving one-handed slam to make it 112-64 and
Jaden Haire essentially finished off the final points with a pair of dunks himself.
Williams led the Islanders with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting while adding six rebounds and two assists. Shogbonyo and Wheatfall each added 16 points. Gibson put up 11 points while Yetna and Haire each got up to 10 points.
It is the first time this season the Islanders had six score in double figures but second to have at least five hit that mark. The program had two instances of six players scoring 10+ points in a game twice last year. Today, eleven Islanders scored at least four points and the team recorded 27 assists on 47 made baskets.
After its brief return home, A&M-Corpus Christi will get back on the road to face Xavier next Friday as one of three final nonconference contests before jumping into conference play with an early matchup at Lamar on Dec. 6.
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