CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Avenging an earlier loss this season, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team road an emotionally driven battle through the end to come out on top of HCU 68-62 Monday night at the American Bank Center.
The Islanders (17-11, 10-6 SLC) had two players leave the game early due to the physicality of the night, fueling the team to rise up and get a win back from HCU (11-16, 8-8 SLC) to satisfy their revenge.
The victory also came after they refused to falter after an early 11-0 deficit, ending the night shooting 50.0 percent (24-48) from the field. It is their 14
th game shooting that high of a mark this year, which only nine other teams in the country have done so prior to tonight.
The first four minutes of the game was all Huskies, who found an early rhythm to jump out to an 11-0 start. It forced the quick timeout from the Islanders, who came out of their regroup with their first score of the game off senior
Jordan Roberts' jumper. HCU continued on to15-2, but the Islanders buckled down and rattled off 11 straight points of their own to get within two.
The Huskies pushed back ahead by two possessions as A&M-Corpus Christi kept trying to bite back, finally pulling enough together as Roberts went deep for three before junior
Leo Torbor drove on the fastbreak to get their first lead at 26-25 with 4:20 to go in the half. Freshman
Damarion Dennis went coast to coast to keep that advantage at 2:46, but HCU closed out the first to end ahead 33-31.
The Islanders didn't get a lot of space from HCU until redshirt senior
Jaden Walker sank one from beyond the arc to go up 42-36. The cushion didn't last long, though, as the Huskies managed to reverse the score at 48-43 right past the 10-minute mark.
HCU led for the next five minutes, but the last five of the game had the Islanders out in front after Dennis pulled up for the long-range shot at 5:01 to permanently reverse the lead at 56-55. The and-one from junior
Kam Parker upped it to 60-55 with 2:34 to go before he insured the win with the three-pointer at 1:23.
Roberts was one of the athletes to retire early due to injury, but didn't take his leave without leading the team with 16 points after going 5-of-7 from the field. Clark joined him in double figures with 14 while Parker turned in 10.
The bench, however, stepped up big and scored 40 of the team's points tonight including 9-point showings from Walker and Dennis.
The Islanders will now take their final road trip of the regular season this weekend, rematching McNeese Saturday and Nicholls next Monday. A&M-Corpus Christi can officially clinch their spot in the Southland Conference tournament with one more victory.
#ShakasUp
