CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team beat the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 76-74 as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, on Wednesday at the American Bank Center.
The Vaqueros (3-7) now lead the Islanders (3-5) 14.5 to 10.5 in the showdown standings. The next event of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, is women's basketball on Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
In this game, senior
Ahren Freeman led the Vaqueros with 23 points, seven rebounds and a season-high three assists. Freshman
J.J. Howard scored a career-high tying 16 points. Freshman
C.J. Booker scored a career-high 15 points with a career-high tying three assists and a career-high three steals. Junior
Elijah Elliott scored 14 points with five rebounds and five assists.
Dian Wright-Forde led the Islanders with 21 points and four rebounds.
Lance-Amir Paul scored 20 points and four rebounds.
Tedrick Washington finished with 10 points.
The Vaqueros hit five of their first seven shots, including three layups and two free throws by Freeman and a layup and a 3-pointer by Booker to take a 13-2 lead over the first five minutes.
The Vaqueros extended their lead to 19-6 on 3-pointer by junior
Sherman Brashear at the 11:17 mark before the Islanders went on a 9-2 run to pull within 21-15.
The Vaqueros pushed their lead back out to nine on an Elliott 3-pointer that made the score 28-19. That's when the Islanders went on a 14-4 run to take their first lead at 33-32. Booker answered with a layup in the closing seconds to give the Vaqueros a 34-33 halftime lead.
The Islanders scored four of the first five points in the second half to take the lead before the Vaqueros went on a 9-0 run, capped by a Freeman layup, to go up 44-37.
The Vaqueros extended their lead to eight at 48-40 on another Freeman layup. The Islanders followed with an 10-0 run to take the lead. Senior
Daylen Williams answered with a game-tying layup and then Howard buried a 3 to put the Vaqueros up 53-50.
The Islanders regained the lead at 58-56. That's when Booker hit a pair of 3-pointers to power a 13-4 run to put the Vaqueros up 68-60 with 2:36 remaining.
The Islanders got as close as one at 75-74 with eight seconds remaining, but after a Howard free throw, the Vaqueros closed the game with a successful defensive stand.
UTRGV faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi again as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, on Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The first 400 fans in attendance will receive #BeatCorpus t-shirts. Fall 2023 UTRGV graduates can get free tickets for family members. There will be a special photo backdrop set up for graduates.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
GoUTRGV.com/Tickets. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at
GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. The party starts in Schlotzsky's Vaquero Village at 5 p.m.
Fans unable to attend in person can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
WAC International.
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