CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team picked up their fourth straight win by defeating the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 64-55 on Monday at Hilliard Center.
The Vaqueros (10-11, 6-6 SLC) got a career-high 19 points from freshman
Julien Gomez while adding seven rebounds. Sophomore
Jaylen Washington scored 13 points, while going 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Junior
Koree Cotton added 11 points with five rebounds and two blocks.
The Islanders (11-10, 7-5 SLC) got 12 points from
Nicholas Shobgonyo while
Mason Gibson and
Sheldon Williams each added 10 points.
The Vaqueros got three points in the Showdown standings with the win while the Islanders earned the attendance points. UTRGV now leads the Showdown 16-12 with the next Showdown event coming on Feb. 17-18 at a women's golf tournament in Corpus Christi.
Both teams got off to a slow start, but the Vaqueros grabbed the 7-4 lead after back-to-back layup from McGhee III and Gomez. The Islanders rattled off a 7-0 that was capped by a Shogbonyo three-pointer to grab the 11-7 lead but back-to-back jumpers from junior
Always Wright and Gomez tied the game at 11-11 with 8:20 left in the half.
The Islanders regained the 15-11 lead after a pair of free throws and a Wheatfall layup but redshirt junior
Marshal Destremau and Gomez gave got the lead right back for UTRGV with back-to-back three-pointers.
The Vaqueros took advantage of the free throw line down the stretch making five free throws to take the 24-20 lead into halftime.
UTRGV opened up their lead with an 8-2 run as they took advantage of space in the paint with three-straight layups from Gomez, Cotton, and Washington to make it 32-22. After a couple of free throws from Washington that made it 36-26, the Islanders went on a 10-0 behind eight-straight free throws, as they finished the game with 41 attempts compared to the Vaqueros' 25 attempts.
The Vaqueros regained control of the game behind three-pointers from Cotton, McGhee III, and two from Gomez that made it 49-40 with 8:40 left to play. Later, Cotton converted a huge three-pointer play and then Washington followed with a tough layup to make it 58-49.
The Islanders did their best to claw back into the game, but the Vaqueros converted from the free throw line to put the game away.
The Vaqueros will be back in action on Jan. 31 when they visit the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals at 4 p.m. at the McDermott Center.
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