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Thursday, February 1, 2001
A&M-CC’s Drasutis wins over Panthers’ audience
A&M-CC player booed, cheered by Prairie View; fans can’t decide whether to love him or hate him
By Matt Young
Caller-Times
PRAIRIE VIEW - Arunas Drasutis knows how to win over a crowd.
Late in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's 104-82 win over Prairie View A&M on Wednesday at William Nicks Building, Drasutis received the loudest boos and loudest cheers of the evening both within seconds of each other.
After getting a steal, Drasutis missed a dunk after getting some contact from the Panthers' Jamar Miles. The missed drunk woke up the hecklers in the Prairie View A&M crowd. On the very next possession, Drasutis answered those heckles by sending home a two-handed dunk. On his way back down the court, Drasutis turned to the fans in the student section, gave them a smile and threw up his hands. That immediately drew loud boos from the crowd. "They were yelling at me a lot when I missed that dunk, but I missed because their guy fouled me, but the refs didn't call it," said Drasutis, who finished with 10 points. "They were laughing at me, and saying 'The white boy can't dunk.' I dunked the next time, so I gave them a hard time, because I showed them I could."
Drasutis gave even further proof on the next possession. Seconds after taunting the crowd, Drasutis got a pass on the break and this time threw down a reverse dunk. The shocked crowd gave the bad-guy-turned-good a standing ovation.
Drasutis got the crowd up again a couple possessions later. Drasutis got the ball on the break again, and as the crowd rose to watch for another Brent Barry impersonation, he unleashed a no-look behind-the-back pass to Michael Hicks for a dunk, which drew another standing ovation from the impressed crowd.
0-FOR-ORTA: Islander walk-on guard Rodney Orta doesn't get much playing time, but he took advantage of the 55 seconds he played against Prairie View A&M.
In those 55 seconds, Orta, who played at Sinton High School, found enough time to launch four 3-pointers. He missed all four.
MISSING MCBRIDE: Backup point guard C.J. McBride didn't make the trip with the Islanders. Arrow said McBride was left home due to disciplinary reasons.
After starting the first three games of the season, McBride's playing time has slowly dwindled. McBride is averaging 3.2 points points and 2.1 assists per game this season.
SHAKE IT FAST: Some arenas have a pep band, others just have a stereo system, but the William Nicks Building comes complete with a DJ and two turntables.
The DJ kept the crowd entertained during dead balls by spinning and scratching hip hop records. Instead of the usual brain-numbing sports arena tunes like Shaggy and Britney Spears, the DJ stuck to strictly hip-hop.
Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com
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© 2001,
a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.
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