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Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Seniors finish with flair
Isles blast Broncs in 105-76 win
By Matt Young
Caller-Times

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Islanders’ Brian Hamilton (left) and Armond Wainwright (center) pressure Broncs’ Matt Hall as he gets rid of the ball during the first half on Tuesday.

Michael Hicks and Lee Denmon won't ever play in Memorial Coliseum again, but it will be hard to forget their final performances in the building.
   Hicks turned in a complete performance, getting 37 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, while Denmon tossed in a career-high 27 points to lead Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to an easy 105-76 win over Texas-Pan American in the season finale Tuesday in front of a season-high 2,752 fans.
   Hicks and Denmon let it all hang out after being honored on senior night - along with fellow seniors Arunas Drasutis, Pathe Diene and Damian Kirkaldy - before the game.
   "I came out and saw the big crowd, and I knew this was my last game, so I had to go out with a bang," said Denmon, who poured in five 3-pointers. "I was ready to play from the start."
   After getting a big ovation from the crowd before the game, Denmon didn't take long getting warmed up, making all five of his 3-pointers in the first half. Denmon's hot shooting allowed A&M-Corpus Christi (14-14) to bury Texas-Pan American (12-17) early and have a little fun on senior night.
   "I owe a lot to Lee because he came out and took a lot of pressure off me to start the game," Hicks said. "He was on fire, man. He made all those 3s and let us have a good time the rest of the way."
   Included in that fun was an astounding dunk from Hicks in the second half. Armond Wainright spotted Hicks on the break and tossed him an alley-oop. Hicks got a late start on his jump, catching the ball in front of the rim, but he straightened up in time to throw down a reverse dunk.
   "As soon as I caught it, I had to throw it down, so I just caught it and dunked it reverse," Hicks said. "We were just all having a good time."
   Texas-Pan American trailed 13-7 with 14:51 left in the first half, but the Islanders reeled off a 25-3 run in the next six minutes to start the fun.
   The streak got started with a couple of 3-point shots from Wainright and another from Hicks. Then Texas-Pan American coach Bob Hoffman picked up a technical foul for protesting a charging call on Broncs point guard Matt Hall.
   While Drasutis shot the technical foul free throws, another technical was called on one of Texas-Pan American's assistant coaches. After Drasutis made three out of four free throws, the Islanders inbounded the ball and three seconds later, Hoffman got his second technical foul and was ejected.
   After Drasutis made two more free throws, the Islanders were up 31-9 with 9:49 left in the half.
   "I didn't use a profanity; I was just talking to the official very matter-of-factly when I got the technicals," Hoffman said. "I'm pretty amazed I was thrown out."
   A&M-Corpus Christi connected on a few more free throws and Denmon closed out the run with a 3-pointer to put the Islanders up 38-10 with 8:20 left in the half.
   The Islanders eventually opened up a 30-point lead before halftime. Texas-Pan American closed to within 17 midway through the second half, but the Islanders sprinted away on a 13-2 run to take an 84-56 lead with 7:54 left in the game.

   TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN (12-17) - Kuzet 0-1 2-2 2, Curtis 2-6 2-2 8, Tate 0-0 0-0 0, Braxton 3-6 0-0 7, Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Sanders 0-0 6-8 6, Hill 2-4 1-4 5, Merriweather 7-19 1-1 17, Chatman 7-16 6-8 21, Quinn 4-4 2-2 10, Gurley 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 25-58 20-27 76 TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (14-14) -- Denmon 10-15 2-2 27, Hicks 12-18 11-16 37, Wainright 4-11 0-0 12, Diene 2-2 0-0 4, Shultz 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 1-4 0-0 2, McBride 0-1 0-0 0, Drasutis 1-2 5-6 8, Atsbeha 2-3 0-0 6, Hamilton 1-4 2-2 4, Hemsley 2-5 1-3 5, Orta 0-0 0-0 0, Pitre 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 35-66 21-29 105
   Halftime -Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 55, Texas-Pan American 29. 3-point goals-Texas-Pan American 6-25 (Merriweather 2-12, Curtis 2-5, Chatman 1-4, Braxton 1-4), A&M-Corpus Christi 14-24 (Denmon 5-9, Wainright 4-5, Hicks 2-3, Atsbeha 2-3, Drasutis 1-2, Evans 0-1, McBride 0-1). Fouled out-A&M-Corpus Christi, Diene. Rebounds-Texas-Pan American 30 (Curtis 8), A&M-Corpus Christi 40 (Hicks 12). Assists-Texas-Pan American 14 (Curtis 6), A&M-Corpus Christi 24 (Wainright 7). Total fouls-Texas-Pan American 23, A&M-Corpus Christi 20. A--2,752 (3,500).


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

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