Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Victorious Isles get little rest

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Monday, December 6, 1999

Victorious Isles get little rest
Islander men visit Montana State tonight
By Mark Zuckerman

Caller-Times

BOZEMAN, Mont. - After spending an entire week preparing for a road game at Eastern Washington, you would think Texas A&M-Corpus Christi would take a little time to enjoy its 71-62 road victory Saturday night.
   And the Islanders did make sure they celebrated their second win in as many games against the Eagles this season . . . for about 30 seconds.
   Saturday night's victory in Cheney, Wash., was sealed around 9 p.m. local time. By 9:01, head coach Ronnie Arrow was already thinking ahead to his team's next foe: Montana State, which hosts A&M-Corpus Christi tonight at Worthington Arena.
   "All night long, you're thinking about Eastern Washington, and then all of a sudden you have to do a complete turnaround," said Arrow, who already was watching tapes of the Bobcats late Saturday night after returning to the team hotel.
   Fortunately for the Islanders (2-2), Montana State also had little time to prepare. The Bobcats (3-3) played Saturday night, pounding Mississippi Valley State by 34 points in the consolation game of the Norwest Cyclone Classic at Iowa State.
   "I think we're hopefully getting them at a good time," Arrow said. "It's not like they've been here four or five days waiting for us."
   After a long day of travel that began with a 5 a.m. wakeup call in snowy Washington, included a brief lay-over in Salt Lake City and ended more than six hours later in the mountain setting of Bozeman, the Islanders were understandably tired.
   "I think it would be hard to play again (Sunday)," said junior guard Arunas Drasutis, "but (tonight) we'll be all right."
   If A&M-Corpus Christi duplicates the sharp shooting and stingy defense it showed against Eastern Washington, Arrow's team may just return home Tuesday with two road victories to get the Islanders ready for upcoming home games against NCAA Tournament squads Texas-San Antonio and Valparaiso.
   In the 9-point win over Eastern Washington, A&M-Corpus Christi shot 52 percent, held the Eagles to a dismal 31 percent from the field and outrebounded its opponents, 45-32.
   But all was not perfect. The Islanders nearly blew a 16-point lead by turning the ball over 26 times and making just 13 of 24 free-throw attempts.
   "Any time that you can win, especially on the road, you're happy," Arrow said. "We told the guys (Saturday) night it wasn't the Mona Lisa, but it wasn't the Sunday comics either. We did some good things."
   With all five starters averaging at least nine points per game, led by junior center John Lazosky (15.8 ppg), the Bobcats are shooting 49 percent as a team and a blistering 45 percent from 3-point range.
   A&M-Corpus Christi will look to open up an early lead, as it did Saturday night, and not dig itself into a deep hole, as it did in its two previous games against Texas Tech and UT-San Antonio.
   "I don't know what was the problem those two games," said Drasutis, who made his first start of the season against Eastern Washington and responded with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting. "I have no idea why we had those two holes. (Saturday), we tried to come back and stop the fast breaks and not let them go up 20 points like those teams did. We were more patient on defense."

   Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at Montana State Bobcats
   LOCATION: Bozeman, Mont., Worthington Arena (7,250).
   TIME: 8:05 p.m.
   RADIO: KEYS-AM 1440, pregame begins at 7:30 p.m.
   RECORDS: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-2, Montana State 3-3.
   NEXT GAME: vs. Texas-San Antonio, Thursday, 7 p.m.
   THE SCOOP: Coming off Saturday's 71-62 win over Eastern Washington, A&M-Corpus Christi will look to return home on a two-game road winning streak. Junior F Michael Hicks led the Islanders in Cheney with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while juniors Arunas Drasutis and Vladimir Ryzhov added 13 and 10, respectively . . . Montana State averages 79.0 points per game, with all five starters scoring at least nine points per game. Junior C John Lazosky leads the Bobcats with 15.8 ppg, while sophomore F Justin Brown averages 12.8 ppg . . . With a victory tonight, the Islanders would be 3-0 against Big Sky opponents, with at least two more games against the conference this season.




Staff writer Mark Zuckerman can be reached at 886-3747 or by e-mail at zuckermanm@caller.com

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]