News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
The Texas A&M men’s basketball team used a barrage of long-range buckets to secure a 96-85 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats Tuesday evening inside Reed Arena.
The Aggies (20-10, 10-7 SEC) hit 13-of-28 (46.4%) from 3-point range, including 7-of-11 (63.6%) in the second half to topple the Wildcats.
Texas A&M had five players reach double digits in scoring, including three bench players. The reserves accounted for 57 points.
Rylan Griffen was the top scorer, coming off the pine to score 21 on 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the field, including 4-of-8 from bonus land. He added four rebounds and two steals. Rubén Dominguez logged 17 points, making 6-of-11 (54.5%) from the floor, including 5-of-8 (62.5%) from beyond the arc. Rashaun Agee added 14 points and eight rebounds coming off the bench.
Among the starters, Zach Clemence led the way with 13 points and he added two blocks. Pop Isaacs tallied 12 points, a season-high eight assists and two steals.
The teams had two ties and one lead change before a 13-3 run put Kentucky (19-11, 10-7 SEC) in control, 22-14, at the 12:01 mark. The Wildcats inflated the cushion to 30-18 over the next four minutes. The remainder of the half was all Aggies as Dominguez sparked a 27-3 run in the final 7:29. He scored 14 points during the surge, knocking down 4-of-5 from triple town, staking the Maroon & White to a 45-33 advantage at the intermission.
The Aggies boasted a 10-0 edge in points-off-turnovers along with owning a 31-13 margin in bench scoring in the opening act. Griffen tacked on eight points while Agee and Ali Dibba chipped in with six apiece.
Coming out of the break it was Clemence who heated up as the Aggie advantage ballooned to 59-40 at the under-16 timeout. He sank three consecutive 3-pointers in a span of 2:23. Texas A&M eventually widened the gap to 21 when Josh Holloway slammed one home with just shy of 15 minutes remaining in the contest.
The Wildcats would cut the deficit to 13 on four occasions over the next 13 minutes, but the Aggies had an answer every time. Kentucky finally trimmed A&M’s edge to single digits with 1:36 remaining, but Texas A&M converted on 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the charity stripe to keep the Wildcats at bay.
UP NEXT
The Aggies wrap up the regular season Saturday when they travel to Baton Rouge for a 5 p.m. game against the LSU Tigers inside Maravich Assembly Center.
