CORPUS CHRISTI – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi outscored McNeese 11-4 in the final 4:40 of the game to pull out an 83-72 win over the Cowboys in Southland Conference basketball action on Saturday afternoon.
 
McNeese trailed just 72-68 following a Johnathan Massie layup with 5:11 to play but the Islanders answered with a Jalen Jackson three-pointer, a couple of free throws by Terrion Murdix, and another 3 Trevian Tennyson to build the lead to 12 points with three minutes remaining.
 
The Cowboys missed on their next four shots since pulling to within four points, all of them from long range, and was held scoreless for nearly four points until a Christian Shumate dunk with 1:17 remaining to snap a 10-0 Islander run and cut the gap to 82-70, but the damage was already done. AMCC hit 1 of 2 free throws in the waning seconds to cap the scoring.
 
The loss dropped the Cowboys to 5-17 overall and 2-7 in league play while suffering their seventh consecutive loss. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi improved to 13-9 (6-3 in SLC) and defeated the Cowboys for the 14^th straight time.
 
Shumate led McNeese in scoring with 15 points and six rebounds. Zach Scott added 13 points while Massie and Harwin Francois each scored 11.
 
McNeese outshot AMCC, hitting 49.2 percent (29 for 59) to the Islanders' 49.0 percent (25 for 51) but Corpus Christi made two more three-pointers than the Cowboys and outscored McNeese 22-5 from the free throw line, including a 9-2 advantage in the second half. McNeese managed to get to the line just 10 times (5-10) while the Islanders sank 22 of 26 from the stripe.
 
Isaac Mushila paced the Islanders with 23 points and eight rebounds. He hit 11 of 12 from the free throw line. Tennyson scored 18 and Murdix 15 to round out the double-figure scorers.
 
McNeese trailed 46-40 at the half and fell behind 54-43 in the first 2:30 of the second. After a Cowboys' timeout to halt the momentum of the Islanders who were on an 8-0 run, McNeese came out of the break on a 6-0 and 9-4 run to cut the margin to 58-54 following a Scott 3 with 13:06 to play.
 
Corpus responded with back-to-back 3s by Jackson and Ross Williams to lift the lead to 64-54 but the Cowboys answered with a 5-0 run behind a Shumate basket and Massie three-pointer to make it a 64-59 game midway through.
 
AMCC then outscored the Cowboys 19-13 in the final 10 minutes.
 
The Cowboys will return to action on Thursday when they host Lamar at 7:30 in the Legacy Center. Lamar dropped a 80-65 game at Northwestern State on Saturday.