Slow Sunday for Southland
Just three games were on the men’s basketball schedule for Sunday, including a pair of games against members of the Big Ten. Illinois beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, dropping the Islanders to 1-1 on the season. Central Arkansas opened its season at Illinois and came up short, 81-39. Texas State closed out the Verizon Wireless Tipoff Classic with a loss to San Francisco and returns to the mainland with a 1-1 record.
Illinois 72, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 53
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? In their home-opening win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men’s basketball team used a big run to take control en route to a 19-point win. On Sunday, the Islanders fell victim to a decisive run as Illinois used a 23-2 burst to close out the first half and pulled way for a 72-53 win.
The loss evens the Islander at record at 1-1, while the Fightin’ Illini moved to 2-0.
The Islanders started fast, jumping out to a 10-5 lead less than six minutes into the game when Horace Bond scored on a back-door cut following a pair of three-point baskets by Kevin Palmer, who tied for a team-high with 10 points.
The Illini would turn up the pressure defensively while the Islanders went cold closing out the first half with a 23-2 run. After hitting 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line to start the half, the Islanders missed their last eight 3-point attempts of the half. The 12 points in the first half were the fewest-ever by A&M-Corpus Christi in a half. The previous mark was 18 in December of 2001 against UTEP.
“We had a game plan to come out and execute some things against their different sets and ? to their credit ? Illinois did a good job of guarding our sets,” Islander coach Perry Clark said. “We couldn’t do anything to get the ball inside.
“We just never got going offensively. Defensively, I thought we played hard and did a good job in the first half. We just couldn’t get going offensively.”
Illinois picked up the intensity in other areas including the boards in the final 14 minutes. A&M-Corpus Christi dominated early in getting the lead taking an 8-1 advantage on the boards, but were out-rebounded 21-8.
Offensively, Trent Meacham scored 11 of his 14 points in the first period including a trio of treys, while Demetri McCamey added seven of his 13.
In the second half, the Islanders continued to battle and after Meacham opened the final 20 minutes by converting a three-point play, A&M-Corpus Christi chipped away to pull as close as 13 on a bucket by Watt. With 12:19 remaining, LaMarr Drake looked to convert a three-point play, but missed the free throw. Watt grabbed the miss and converted the put-back attempt to make it a 43-30 contest.
After four straight points by Illinois, Watt connected from behind the three-point line to make it a 14-point game with just under 11 minutes to go.
Following a quick spurt by the Illini that pushed the lead back to 20 for the hosts, Filip Toncinic tried to ignite his team. The Croatian hit a three-point basket and then after stealing the ball scored in the paint to make it a 13-point game with under four minutes left, but the Islanders were unable to get closer. Toncinic scored a career-best 10.
Aside from 10 points by Palmer and Toncinic, Justin Reynolds added eight and Watt seven. Watt grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
Mike Davis scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead the Illini in scoring and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead all players
The Islanders stay in the Land of Lincoln for a second clash with a Big Ten school when they visit Northwestern on Wednesday. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip.
Northwestern 81, Central Arkansas 39
EVANSTON, Ill. ? The Central Arkansas men’s basketball team lost its season opener to Big Ten member Northwestern 81-39 on Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats, also playing in their first game of the season, outshot the Bears 61 to 25 percent for the game.
The Bears struggled offensively in the first half, shooting 22 percent from the field and making just four field goals. Meanwhile, the Wildcats knocked down 50 percent of their first half attempts, going 10-of-20 from the field, giving Northwestern a 35-17 halftime lead.
Northwestern scored 20 points off of UCA’s 16 first period turnovers. Both teams were plagued by early fouls with the Bears being whistled for 15 in the first half and the Wildcats called for 11. UCA went 8-of-12 from the free throw line and Northwestern was 11-of-14.
After giving up a basket inside the paint by Northwestern junior forward Kevin Coble to start the second half, the Bears went on a 12-5 run, sparked by a pair of three-pointers by junior guard Marcus Pillow, during the next five minutes, cutting the lead to 42-29 with 14:53 remaining.
Northwestern answered with a 19-4 run, pushing the lead to 61-33 with6:55 left in the game.
The Bears went 11-of-44 from the field, while the Wildcats were 28-of-46. Northwestern also was 17-of-23 from the free throw line (74 percent) and8-of-16 from three-point range. UCA went 14-of-21 from the free throw line (67 percent) and 3-of-15 from long range.
The Bears were held to under 40 points for the first time since March 1, 1982, when UCA lost to Southern Arkansas 41-39.
Pillow led the Bears in scoring with 13 points and had three assists.
Junior forward Mitch Rueter had seven points and six rebounds and senior center Brian Marks had six points and six boards.
Coble paced the Wildcats with 15 points and eight rebounds. Center Kyle Rowley and guard Michael Thompson had 10 points each.
The Bears will play their first home game on Wednesday night against Bacone. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
San Francisco 88, Texas State 74
HONOLULU, Hawaii ? Dior Lowhorn scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the University of San Francisco to an 88-74 victory over the Texas State men’s basketball team Sunday night in the second round of the Verizon Wireless Tip-Off Classic inside the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Both teams battled back and forth in the first half, which featured seven lead changes and three ties.
Texas State led 17-15 when the Bobcats used an 8-2 run to open up their largest lead in the game at 25-17 with 9:37 left in the opening period. Senior forward Dylan Moseley capped the run with his three-point field goal.
San Francisco fought its way back into the game with an 11-4 run to pull to within 29-28 at the 6:12 mark following a pair of free throws by Kwame Vaughn.
After Jonathan Sloan made a lay-up and Brent Benson hit a pair of three-point baskets, to open up a 37-32 lead, the Dons fought back to within 37-36 with 3:19 left on Manny Quezada’s lay-up. Then, Quezada nailed a three-point shot with 2:19 left to play in the opening period to tie the score at 39-39.
Lowhorn made two free throws on San Francisco’s next possession to put the Dons’ in front 41-39.
But the Bobcats came right back when Emmanuel Bidias A’Moute made a free throw and hit a jumper to give the Bobcats a 42-41 lead at halftime.
Brent Benson led the Bobcats with 12 points in the first half, while Bidias A’ Moute and Tre Nicholls combined for 13 points off the bench in the opening periods. Nicholls scored seven points of his 10 points in the opening period, while Bidias A’ Moute finished with six points and one steal while playing just eight minutes.
After the intermission, Texas State lost its shooting touch as the Bobcats made just 12 of their 33 field goal attempts, including just two of their nine three-point tries. In addition, Texas State made just six of its 12 free throws as well.
San Francisco took advantage as Lowhorn scored the first six points in the period to give USF a 47-42 lead with 18:42 left to play. After John Bowman came off Texas State’s bench to hit a jump shot, the Dons outscored Texas State 16-11 in the next eight minutes to take a 63-53 lead following Vaughn’s three-point field goal with 10:09 left to play.
San Francisco led by as many as 17 points in the final two minutes before Nichols closed out the scoring with a three-point field goal for the Bobcats.
Benson led the Bobcats with 12 points, but did not score in the second half. Brandon Bush added 11 points and four rebounds, while Bidias A’ Moute and Nichols finished the game with 10 points each.
In addition to Lowhorn’s 26 points, Vaughn ended the game with 17 points, Quesada added 15 and Blake Wallace added 12 points.
Texas State returns to the mainland to play host to Huston Tillotson in their first home game of the season this Wednesday night at Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos. The game tips off at 7 p.m.