Le Monye men’s basketball falls to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in final game of Island U Invitational

Corpus Christi, Texas – Garry Clark tallied 17 points to lead Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to an 82-61 victory over the Le Moyne College men’s basketball team in the final game of the Island U Invitational on Saturday evening at the Dugan Wellness Center.
Senior forward Ocypher Owens (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep/Indian River State) led the Dolphins offensively with 14 points (seven in each half), while adding six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Graduate student guard Robby Carmody (Mars, Pa./Mars Area/Notre Dame/Mercer) finished with 13 points, three assists and two rebounds in a season-high 34 minutes. Redshirt sophomore forward Nate Fouts (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles/Kimball Union Academy) turned in 11 points, including nine in the second half, a game-high seven rebounds and a game-best three steals in 17 minutes off the bench.
Clark registered eight points in the first half and nine in the second to finish as the game’s leading scorer, while grabbing seven rebounds, which tied Fouts for the most in the game. Damarion Dennis recorded 13 points, including eight in the second half, as the only other Islander in double figures.
After Carmody opened the game’s scoring, Owen Dease answered with a three-pointer to give the lead to the Islanders, which they would not relinquish as the game featured just one lead change and did not have any ties.
Clark followed Dease’s three-pointer with a lay-up to kickstart back-and-forth action over the next 5:41 as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s lead bounced between one and five points and was 19-16 following a fast-break dunk by redshirt junior forward Dwayne Koroma (Berlin, Germany/Bishop Walsh (Md.)/Iona/Salt Lake C.C./UT Arlington) with 12:30 left in the half.
Following the under-12 minute timeout with 11:58 left in the stanza, the Islanders scored 13 straight points to take control of the game. Dennis had five points in the span, while four others each scored two points.
After the Dolphins got two points apiece from Fouts and Owens in a span of 21 seconds to pull within 32-20 with 6:08 left, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored the final 10 points of the half to go into the intermission with a 42-20 lead. Five Islanders each had two points in the stretch. In the span, the Dolphins missed three field goal attempts and three front ends of a “1-and-1″ from the foul line and committed seven turnovers.
The Islanders extended their run to 12 with the first two points of the second half.
Junior guard Zek Tekin (Istanbul, Turkey/Ozel Esenkent Okaynus Anadolu Lisesi/Siena) ended Le Moyne’s scoring drought at 6:53 with a free throw at the 19:15 mark and Carmody followed 30 seconds later with the team’s first field goal in 7:23.
After Clark made a lay-up to put Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s 53-26 with 16:19 left, the Dolphins scored 13 of the next 18 points to cut their deficit to 19 with 11:22 to go. Owens started the run with a jumper, Fouts followed with a put-back lay-up, junior guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) made a pair of lay-ups, Fouts buried a three-pointer and then Koroma converted a lay-up.
The Islanders responded with 12 of the next 15 points for their largest lead of the game (28) with 7:22 left. Clark had a conventional three-point play, Dennis made a three-pointer, Clark had another lay-up, Isaac Williams made a free throw and then Dennis connected on another three-pointer.
Le Moyne countered with an 11-2 run to get back within 19 with 4:54 left. Owens and Carmody each made two free throws, Tekin had a fast-break lay-up off a steal, fifth-year guard Darrick Jones Jr. (Richmond, Va./Oak Hill Academy/Towson) made a three-pointer from the left corner and then Tekin converted two foul shots.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s lead bounced between 19 and 23 points the remainder of the game and settled at 21 on two foul shots from Owens with 21 seconds left.
Le Moyne (2-5), which falls to 2-4 against teams from the state of Texas and to 3-1 in games in Texas, wraps up its three-game Texas trek on Monday at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley at 7:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM CT.