BEAUMONT, Texas – The Texas A&M–Corpus Christi men's basketball team opened Southland Conference play with a rallied win Saturday night, coming back from a five-point halftime deficit to down Lamar 57–49 at the Montagne Center.
The Islanders (3–5, 1–0 SLC) shot 64.7% after halftime and forced 12 Cardinal turnovers in the second period, rallying from a 26–21 deficit behind Nicholas Shogbonyo and
Sheldon Williams, who combined for 27 second-half points.
After also falling behind on the boards in the first (22-17), the Islanders ended outrebounding Lamar 32-29 including 26 on the defensive end.
Lamar held a 31–26 edge early in the half, but the Islanders quickly changed the tone. Shogbonyo sparked the shift, scoring off a turnover and adding a free throw to pull within a possession. After a defensive stop, Williams threw down a dunk off a feed from
Kam Parker to give A&M–Corpus Christi its first lead since the 12-minute mark of the first half.
Lamar briefly regained momentum on a pair of triples to go up 40–35 with 11:02 remaining. The Islanders answered immediately as Williams hit a three from the left wing, and after another defensive stop,
Leo Torbor drew the foul and evened the score at 44-all from the charity strip.
The turning point came with 7:56 left when the Islanders forced Lamar's third turnover in a four-minute span which set up a Shogbonyo transition three that sent them ahead 48-44 to never trail again.
Defensively, the Islanders closed with stops on four of Lamar's final five possessions and Williams iced the win with a tip-in with 20 seconds remaining.
Shogbonyo finished with 18 points, three steals and two assists. Williams added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Torbor scored 10. Evran grabbed a team-high nine boards and recorded the sole block of the night by the Islanders.
The Islanders are 27-13 in conference play under head coach
Jim Shaw. It is the second season out of now three guided by Shaw that the Islanders won their conference opener.
It additionally marked the first road win for the Islanders this season after playing a gauntlet away schedule with stops at #25 Kansas, Oklahoma State, SMU, Tarleton State, and Xavier.
It gets the Islanders to a nice start to the league slate, which won't start back up for them until Dec. 17 when they head to SFA. The bulk of conference play will get back to normal operations on Dec. 29 and 31 when they host Nicholls and New Orleans.
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