NACOGDHOCHES, Texas – It was a cold night of shooting for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team while a hot-handed SFA team was able to come away with a 78-64 decision Saturday night in the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
It was A&M-Corpus Christi's (15-10, 8-5 SLC) second lowest shooting percentage of the year at just a 32.3 percent (21-65) mark, topping only their 32.1 percent mark at #15 Houston back in December. The three-point line wasn't kind to the Islanders either, as they could only bucket two in the first half which couldn't combat SFA's (11-13, 4-9 SLC) 42.0 percent three-point shooting where they converted on nine of their 21 attempts.
However, the free throw performance from the Islanders was one of their best this season as they went 20-for-25 at the line (80.0 percent). It is the second time they made at least 20 free throws in a game after making 21 at New Mexico State back in November.
Redshirt junior pulled down a pair of offensive rebounds to start the game, allowing freshman
Isaac Williams to drive it in for the first bucket of the night. Senior
Garry Clark got open on the perimeter for the three-ball and then went inside for the hook shot to make it an early 7-1 lead for the Islanders. Junior
Leo Torbor laid it in at 14:51 for an 11-5 score before SFA came alive and fired back to tie things up at 15.
The long-range shot from freshman
Damarion Dennis put the Islanders back ahead 18-15 but it unfortunately lit up the Lumberjacks who went on a 13-0 run to find themselves up with a double-digit lead. The Islanders tried chipping in with a sequence that had redshirt senior
Jaden Walker denying SFA on the glass before redshirt junior
Shilo Jackson dunked it in transition to make it 29-23. However, another drought marred the Islanders as SFA went into the half up 43-26.
The Islanders came out with a bit more tempo to start the second, with Clark laying in two before Williams also got to the rim for a slight scoring run to get back within fighting distance down 45-36. A&M-Corpus Christi got it down to eight at 48-40 but SFA answered with back-to-back momentum-killing three-pointers as the visiting squad couldn't make up the difference.
Clark was the main producer for the Islanders tonight, coming away with 18 points after going 7-of-15 from the field. He has continued to score 10+ points in every game this year, making it 32 straight games he's done so dating back to last season.
The Islanders will finally see the end of a two-week road swing end Monday night when they cap the trip at Lamar at 7 p.m.
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