Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Islanders survive OT scare against Vikings

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Sunday, December 24, 2000

Islanders survive OT scare against Vikings
A&M-CC team avenges inaugural season loss with 99-95 victory over Portland State
By Mark Zuckerman
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

Islanders’ freshman Brian Hamilton goes up for a basket against Portland State on Saturday during A&M-CC’s 99-95 overtime win over Portland State.

A 20-point second-half deficit to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi wasn't too much for Portland State to overcome Saturday afternoon.
   A 40-point game by Michael Hicks was.
   Behind Hicks' second 40-point effort of the season, the Islanders withstood a furious second-half rally and eventually beat the Vikings in overtime, 99-95, in front of 1,734 fans at Memorial Coliseum.
   "We won," an exasperated head coach Ronnie Arrow said afterwards. "I'll take 28 of these every year."
   Arrow's heart might say otherwise - it surely can't withstand many more close calls like this.
   What looked like an easy home win for the Islanders, who were ahead 54-34 early in the second half, suddenly turned into a dogfight. Continuing a season-long trend of turning the ball over, A&M-Corpus Christi (5-4) fell apart trying to break down Portland State's full-court press, leading to a team-record 28 turnovers.
   Down by 19 with 10:36 to play, the Vikings (2-8) went on a 25-9 run to cut the lead to 78-75 with 2:48 left.
   "We played with the energy and intensity that we're supposed to have all season," said Portland State coach Joel Sobotka, whose team beat A&M-Corpus Christi, 76-64, last year at the Rose Garden. "But we can't spot them 12 points (the halftime deficit) on their home court."
   Following a missed 3-point attempt by Hicks as the shot clock expired, the Vikings tied the game at 82 on Luke Dean's 3-point play. Dean, who had a career high 18 points and 12 rebounds, scored in the post and drew the fifth foul of the game on Damian Kirkaldy, sending the Islanders' starting forward to the bench early for the fifth time this year.
   With 33 seconds left in regulation and the shot clock turned off, A&M-Corpus Christi had a chance for the game-winning basket. But senior Lee Denmon inexplicably fired off a 3-point attempt with 21 seconds still showing. Jabbar Washington (career-high 20 points) pulled down the rebound, Portland State called timeout, and the Vikings set up what they hoped would be the game-winning play.
   With the clock winding down, Jamaal Thomas, who finished with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting, drove to the basket and missed a short-range layup. Anthony Lackey pulled down the offensive rebound and tried to put it back in the net at the buzzer, but his shot bounced off the rim, sending the game to overtime tied at 82.
   Portland State took a brief 2-point lead on a Washington 3-pointer early in the extra period, but Hicks took over down the stretch, scoring eight points in overtime to seal the Islanders' second-straight win.
   The 6-foot-5 senior from Panama seemingly had the ball in his hands every possession in overtime, scoring in the post, from the perimeter and from the free-throw line to post 40 points for the second-straight home game to go along with 12 rebounds. He had 40 in the Islanders' last game at the Coliseum, Nov. 26 against Cal Poly.
   "Coach has a lot of confidence in me," said Hicks, whose average of 25.5 points per game places him among the top two scorers in the nation. "Every time I get the ball, I do what I can to make sure we score."
   A&M-Corpus Christi still only led by 2 with less than a minute to play before Brian Evans brought the crowd to its feet on a desperation 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. Arunas Drasutis slid under the basket to pick up a loose ball and passed it out to Denmon, who dished off to Evans at the top of the key. With no time to spare, the freshman point guard launched up a prayer that fell through the net for his only basket of the game to put the Islanders back up by 5.
   "Lee let me know how much time was on the clock," Evans said. "I knew I had to put it up. And I knew I had to make it because we needed it to win."



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

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