Corpus Christi – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders out-shot, out-rebounded, and out-played the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas Monday night at the American Bank Center as the Islanders won by a score of 80-61. Junior guard Reggie Love led the Javelinas with 16 points while senior Remi Yusuf had 14.
Down by 21 at the half, the Javelinas put together an early 7-0 run on a 3-point shot from Rickey Huckaby, a jumper by Yusuf and a steal and a layup by Wendell Mulkey to cut the Islander to 47-30.
But the Islanders returned to their hot-shooting ways, hitting 10 of their first 16 shots, including 4 of 6 3-point attempts to move the lead out to 72-44 with nine minutes left in the game.
The Javelinas finished the game hitting 40 percent of their shots while the Islanders finished at nearly 48 percent. The Islanders out-rebounded the Javelinas 45-29.
Texas A&M-Kingsville did little right in trailing 42-21 at the half.
Offensively the Javelinas got off to a slow start, making just 2 of their first 9 shots while the Islanders made 6 of their first 9 en route to a 14-5 lead six minutes into the first half.
The Islanders stretched their lead to 20-9 with 11:03 left in the first half as the Javelinas struggled from 3-point range, making just 1 of their first 5 attempts.
The Islanders also made 6-of-7 free throws before the Javelinas made their first at the 9:42 mark.
Juan Lanauze hit a jump hook to cut the lead to 22-14 with 9:24 left in the half and the Javelina defense forced three consecutive turnovers, a missed shot and blocked a shot, but couldn’t convert on any of their offensive possessions.
Reggie Love finally broke a three and a half minute scoreless streak by hitting a 3-point shot with 5:55 left in the half to cut the lead to 24-17.
But the Islanders scored 10 straight points to grab their biggest led of the half 34-17 with 3:20 left in the half.
Yusuf hit a running jumper in the lane with three minutes left in the half to break the Islanders’ streak, but Josh Washington came right back down the floor and hit a 3-point shot to make it 37-19.
Seth Engelken hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to give the Islanders a 42-21 halftime advantage.
The Islanders shot 53.6% from the floor in the first half while the Javelinas hit just 32 percent of their shots. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi outscored Texas A&M-Kingsville 10-2 from the free throw line and out-rebounded the Javelinas 21-14.
Yusuf was the Javelinas leading scorer in the first half with eight points.
