CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas &045; As if the nights aren’t cold enough now back home in Mississippi.

The Alcorn State Braves were mighty cold from the field in the first half and eventually fell to Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi, 99-59, Tuesday night on the road to drop their record to 0-2.

Add to that the conditions at the home gym of the Islanders, who have been in existence for only a handful of years, and a tough night on the road got tougher for the

Braves.

&uot;We played at a hockey rink,&uot; Alcorn head coach Sam West said. &uot;It’s not an excuse, but a hockey rink was up under the floor, and it was cold. I don’t know. No excuse, though. We didn’t play the first half, but we played the second half.&uot;

The Braves clanged out all but seven of their 24 shots in the first half and trailed 55-18 at halftime. The Islanders started the game out on an 18-4 run when Travis Bailey hit a bucket with 14:43 left, and the lead got to 16 when Trey Johnson hit a bucket for Alcorn to cut it to 28-10.

That’s when the Islanders made their run &045; a layup from Corey Stokes with 9:25 left sparked a 23-2 run that ended with a Travis Bailey 3-pointer with 3:17 left for a 47-14 lead.

Bailey hit on all nine of his field goals in the first half &045; including four 3-pointers &045; and led all scorers at game’s end with 26 points.

&uot;They’re an excellent team,&uot; West said. &uot;They’re well-coached. Their kids played well. They’re little guards, but they had some great guard play. It was nothing we didn’t prepare for.&uot;

In the second half, A&M-Corpus; Christi opened up right where it left by scoring nine straight points early for a 66-24 lead with 16:16 left.

The Braves, despite giving a greater effort on the defensive side of the ball, failed to put together any type of run as they trailed by as many as 45 points, 96-51, with 3:16 left when Corey Johnson put in a 3-pointer.

Trey Johnson led the Braves with 12 points. Others in double-figures were Myles Howard with 11 and Brian Jackson with 10.