CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Wrapping up 2025 on a high note, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team behind
Mason Gibson's second half surge toppled New Orleans 83-69 Wednesday afternoon in the Hilliard Center.
The matchup was low scoring in the first, with the Islanders (6-7, 2-2 SLC) holding just a 32-27 advantage at the break with New Orleans (4-9, 2-2 SLC) forcing ties and lead reversals throughout. However, a faster paced second half came out of the locker room as the Islanders scored 51 points in the latter 20 minutes to break away from the Privateers by nearly 15 points.
A big help was Gibson who scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half. Additionally, the rebounding advantage made a difference as the Islanders crashed the glass for a 48-36 edge on the boards including 24 offensive rebounds that led to 27 second chance points.
The Islanders struck first with a free throw opportunity from
Sheldon Williams followed by
Cenker Evran's hook shot for the 3-0 lead. New Orleans answered with a pair of putbacks to reverse the lead but the and-one from Evran put the Islanders back up 10-8. The Privateers found space at 19-14 before
Mason Gibson capped a run with the pullup off the turnover to tie things back up.
Another offensive board led to a lay-in from Evran to keep things knotted at 23-all and Williams drove the lane off the steal from
Bryson Wheatfall to make it a 25-23 Islanders advantage with under five minutes in the half. A big second chance three from
Kam Parker made it 32-25 and New Orleans managed a final bucket to send the teams to the locker room with the Islanders up by five.
New Orleans quickly erased the deficit to start the second, but a tie is all they could manage as
Leo Torbor got inside for the lay-in at 17:30 to give the Islanders an indefinite lead at 36-34. Back-to-back threes from
Franck Yetna and Gibson drove the lead up to 50-39 and the momentum continued to grow as did the lead for the Islanders.
A tip-in from
Jaden Haire gave the home squad their biggest lead of the night at 77-55 with 5:08 to play.
Kobi Pearson kept that margin on their next possession with the putback slam dunk and while the Privateers drove for a few more lay-ins at the end, the Islanders still came away with the comfortable +14 victory.
Gibson had seven points in the first half and exploded in the second to end with a game-high 22 points. This was his sixth double figure scoring game of the season and ninth game netting multiple three-pointers. It was his first 20+ scoring game of the year, as he becomes the third Islander to record a 20-point game this season. He was also a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
Seven other Islanders recorded over five points, with Parker also matching his career-high of five assists to add to his six points and six rebounds.
Since head coach
Jim Shaw been on staff (2021-22), the Islanders are now 55-9 at home. In conference play, A&M-Corpus Christi is 28-14 under Shaw including 17-4 when playing Southland opponents at home.
The Islanders will now hit the road for two conference weekends, heading to UTRGV and HCU for matchups this Saturday and Monday before continuing to Northwestern and East Texas A&M the following week. They return home Jan. 17 against Southeastern.
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