Texas A&M-CC secures last tourney slot with 92-87 victory

Mar 4, 2018, 03:55 am

HOUSTON -- Joseph Kilgore, who finished with a career-high 36 points, slammed home a dunk and added three free throws in the final seconds to secure the victory as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi rallied to beat Houston Baptist 92-87 on Saturday night to get the final seed for the Southland Conference Tournament.

Going into the last game there were three teams vying for the No. 8 and final seed in the tournament. The Islanders (11-17, 8-10) survived to play another day and will see tournament action on Wednesday in Katy, Texas.

Texas A&M-CC was behind 39-34 at the break but had a 76-73 lead after Kareem South drained consecutive 3-pointers with 4:45 remaining. Houston Baptist stayed close and trailed 85-84 with less than a minute to go after scoring six unanswered points. David Bloom made two free throws and Kilgore followed with the dunk and three free throws to secure the win.

Kilgore was 10 of 27 from the floor while making 15 of 22 free throws. Myles Smith added 21 points, with Sean Rhea contributing 12 and South with 11.

David Caraher had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead Houston Baptist (6-25, 2-16) which finished the season with five straight losses.