ABILENE – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi limited Abilene Christian to just 20 second-half points to turn a close game into a runaway Tuesday night as the Islanders sprinted to a 67-44 victory over the Wildcats in a Southland Conference men's basketball game at Moody Coliseum.
The victory propels the Islanders to 15-12 overall and 10-5 in the Southland, while the Wildcats – who lost their 11th straight game – fall to 9-18 and 3-11. ACU is back in action Saturday at 6:15 p.m. at New Orleans.
Corpus Christi led 28-24 at halftime and immediately ripped off a 10-0 scoring run to start the second half and take a 38-24 lead. Bryce Douvier got the run started with a 3-pointer at the 17:40 mark to make it 31-24, followed by a 3-pointer from Dale Francis, a layup from Douvier and a jumper from Brandon Pye to make it a 14-point lead with 14:49 left in the game.
The Wildcats would not get closer than 12 points the rest of the way as the Islanders pulled away for the victory. Corpus Christi shot 60 percent from 3-point range (3 of 5) and 52.6 percent from the field (10 of 19) in the second half, while the Wildcats hit just 39.1 percent from the field (9 of 23) and 16.7 percent from 3-point range (1 of 6). ACU shot just 35.4 percent from the field for the game (17 of 48) and 33.3 percent from 3-point range (5 of 15).
Harrison Hawkins scored 11 points in the first half for ACU, and he was the Wildcats' leading scorer on the night. Corpus Christi freshman guard Ehab Amin had a game-high 16 points off the bench, while Rashawn Thomas had 14 points and seven points.
