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Tuesday, February 13, 2001
Islanders avenge loss
A&M-CC beats Belmont, 92-87, in OT
By Matt Young
Caller-Times

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Islanders' forward Michael Hicks (right) drives around Belmont's Omari Booker during the Islanders overtime win on Monday night.

Excuse the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi players if they looked a bit tense down the stretch against Belmont. It's not always easy to play when you can't keep the flashbacks out of your head.
   For the second time this season, A&M-Corpus Christi blew a lead to Belmont and had to go to overtime, but this time the Islanders escaped with a 92-87 win Monday at Memorial Coliseum.
   Just three weeks ago, A&M-Corpus Christi lost a big lead and the game at Belmont when officials put extra time on the clock that allowed the Bruins to sneak away with a controversial 117-116 overtime win.
   "I was having flashbacks, definitely," said A&M-Corpus Christi guard Armond Wainright, who finished with 17 points. "It was almost the same thing. They kept hitting 3's and coming back, and we couldn't stop them. This time we made sure the ending was different."
   The win was payback for the Islanders, who felt robbed when the officials put more time on the clock and allowed Belmont to beat them three weeks ago.
   "It feels good to beat them, because that was real bogus what happened when we went to their place," A&M-Corpus Christi point guard Brian Evans said. "We should have won that game, but it got stolen away from us. We were real fired up to get one back from them."
   Michael Hicks played a key role in getting that win back for the Islanders by going off for a game-high 34 points.
   Despite Hicks' usual heroics, A&M-Corpus Christi nearly threw the game away at the free-throw line. The Islanders saw their 14-point lead evaporate in the final six minutes of regulation. As Belmont mounted its comeback, A&M-Corpus Christi shot itself in the foot when it stepped to the charity stripe. The Islanders made just 3 of 14 free throws in the last 2:40.
   "Free throws are mind over matter, and when you start to miss them, you just get tighter and tighter and tighter," A&M-Corpus Christi coach Ronnie Arrow said. "We're usually a good free-throw shooting team, but once you start to miss, it gets in your head."
   Leading 77-75 with 13 seconds left, the Islanders had a chance to ice the game, but Hicks missed two free throws giving Belmont one last chance. The Bruins took advantage of the Islanders' free-throw failures by holding the ball for one shot and finding Wes Burtner open underneath the bucket. Burtner banked in a two-footer with 1.2 seconds to tie the score 77-77 and send the game to overtime.
   An obvious tense A&M-Corpus Christi squad loosened up at the start of regulation by bursting out of the gate with six straight points. Hicks got two easy buckets on post moves and Wainright got the other on a steal and layup.
   "That steal was big for us, because I think a lot of the guys were kind of nervous," Wainright said. "The steal and layup loosened everybody up."
   Belmont came back to cut the lead to one with just over a minute to play, but Hicks responed with a three-point play and Evans followed with two straight free throws to give the Islanders an insurmountable 91-85 lead with 38 seconds left.

   BELMONT (11-14) -Sonn 3-7 8-9 14, Drabyn 3-7 0-0 8, Howard-Downs 0-1 0-0 0, Proffitt 3-6 0-0 8, Couey 0-3 0-0 0, Lannin 11-18 2-5 28, Booker 1-4 0-1 2, Burtner 7-16 6-8 22, Mark 2-9 0-0 5. TOTALS 30-71 16-23 87 TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (13-13) - Evans 3-6 3-8 9, McBride 2-3 0-0 6, Denmon 3-7 1-4 8, Hicks 12-19 9-15 34, Drasutis 1-2 4-4 6, Atsbeha 0-1 0-0 0, Hamilton 3-6 0-0 6, Wainright 6-14 2-2 17, Shultz 0-2 0-0 0, Kirkaldy 2-9 0-1 4, Hemsley 0-0 0-0 0, Diene 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS 33-69 19-34 92
   Halftime-Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 40, Belmont 33. 3-point goals-Belmont 11-34 (Lannin 4-8, Drabyn 2-6, Burtner 2-8, Proffitt 2-3, Mark 1-5, Sonn 0-1, Booker 0-1), A&M-Corpus Christi 7-20 (Wainright 3-8, McBride 2-3, Denmon 1-3, Hicks 1-3, Drasutis 0-1, Atsbeha 0-1, Hamilton 0-1). Fouled out-A&M-Corpus Christi, Diene; Belmont, Booker, Drabyn, Sonn. Rebounds-Belmont 45 (Sonn 16), A&M-Corpus Christi 45 (Hicks, Hamilton 6). Assists-Belmont 16 (Drabyn 5), A&M-Corpus Christi 19 (Evans, Kirkaldy 4). Total fouls -Belmont 31, A&M-Corpus Christi 24. A-1,402 (3,500).

Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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