Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Isles lose steam toward end of game

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Saturday, December 30, 2000

Isles lose steam toward end of game

By Mark Zuckerman
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

A&M-CC’s Brian Evans’ shot attempt is slapped away by Cleveland State’s Tahric Gosley Friday night.

Considering the amount of success Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has had, sometimes it's easy to forget just how far the school has come on the basketball court in less than two years.
   Ronnie Arrow knows how tough it's been to build his Division I program from scratch, though, and that's why the head coach wasn't all that devastated with the Islanders' 81-77 loss to Cleveland State Friday night in the championship game of the Koch Petroleum Islander Invitational.
   "People still think because we've done whatever we've done in a short period of time that we're supposed to win all of these things," said Arrow following the 4-point loss to the Vikings in front of 2,185 fans at Memorial Coliseum. "But reality sets in, we're still a second-year program and sometimes we play like that."
   Sure, A&M-Corpus Christi (6-7) would have liked to take home the championship trophy at its first-ever home tournament. But in the end, a loss to a Cleveland State program that longtime head coach Rollie Massimino has on the rise was hardly disastrous.
   "That's a pretty good team," said Islander forward Michael Hicks, who earned tournament MVP honors with a 31-point showing Friday night. "And we've got to play them again (Feb. 5 in Cleveland). We've got to be ready to work a little harder against them next time."
   After digging themselves into an 11-point hole, the Islanders fought back to make a game of it with the Vikings (7-6), thanks to another impressive effort from their full-court press. With freshman Brian Hamilton (eight rebounds) and veteran guards Arunas Drasutis (11 points, seven rebounds) and Sennai Atsbeha (13 points) leading the way, A&M-Corpus Christi went on an 10-0 run early in the second half to cut Cleveland State's 51-40 lead to 51-50.
   A 3-pointer by Drasutis with 8 minutes showing on the clock actually put the Islanders up by 1, but the Vikings responded with two huge 3's by guard Jermaine Robinson (17 points).
   "They hit some big buckets," said Arrow, whose team's 3-game winning streak was snapped. "You can't take anything away from them."
   Down by 7 with 3 minutes to play, A&M-Corpus Christi again used its full-court press to go on an 8-2 run and cut the Vikings' lead to 72-71. The Islanders could not get over the hump, though, watching as Cleveland State extended the lead to 6 and made its free throws to win the tournament crown. Guard Jamaal Harris went 8 of 15 from the floor to finish with 21 points and earn all-tournament honors.
   Just as they did Thursday night against Birmingham-Southern, the Islanders came out of the gates ice cold from the floor, making just two of their first 10 shots from the field. Cleveland State, meanwhile, took advantage of 12 first-half A&M-Corpus Christi turnovers to open up a 12-point lead.
   The Islanders did cut into the deficit just before the break, thanks to a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer by C.J. McBride that sent the teams to the locker room with the Vikings ahead, 35-29.
   "We had a chance to win the game," Arrow said. "The other night, we hit the important shots. Tonight we didn't."



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

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