By: Brad Marquardt, Assistant AD/Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M men’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought 70-68 decision to the No. 18 South Carolina Gamecocks in front of a crowd of 9,255 on Wednesday at Reed Arena.
With the score knotted at 68-68 with nine seconds remaining, South Carolina’s Zachary Davis got loose for a game-winning layup off an assist from Meechie Johnson. With the loss, the Aggies fall to 15-13 overall and 6-9 in SEC play, while the Gamecocks improved to 23-5 and 11-4. The defeat ended a school-record five-game home winning streak against Associated Press Top 25 teams and was the Aggies’ fifth straight loss.
Facing a deficit throughout the first half and then falling behind by 13 points with just over 14 minutes remaining, the resilient Aggies went on a 10-0 run that eventually turned into a 17-2 outburst that gave the Maroon & White their first lead of the game. Sophomore Solomon Washington’s 3-pointer put the Aggies ahead 50-47 with eight and a half minutes remaining.
From there the two teams exchanged the lead or were tied seven times before the winning bucket. The Gamecocks had forged a seven-point lead with just over two minutes remaining, but the Aggies scored the next seven points to knot the game at 68-68 on junior guard Wade Taylor IV’s clutch layup.
The Aggies were led by graduate guard Tyrece Radford, who tallied his first double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Radford made 7-of-19 shots and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Taylor chipped in 15 points and dished out four assists. Junior Manny Obaseki was huge for the Aggies off the bench with 11 points and five rebounds, while hitting 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. The Aggies were plus-19 in scoring with Obaseki on the floor. SEC rebounding leader Andersson Garcia posted a team-high 12 rebounds, including four off the offensive glass.
GAME NOTES:
1,000 POINT CLUB: Henry Coleman III has now joined the 1,000-point club at Texas A&M and 1,022 points in three seasons in Aggieland. Coleman is the fifth player in school history to have over 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 100 steals. He is the third Aggie this year to have reached the 1,000 point milestone joining Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford.
BOOTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Radford earned his first double-double this season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. This is his first double-double since Dec. 27, 2022, against Northwestern State, where he scored 21 and had 10 boards. This is the first double-double put together by Texas A&M since Jan. 20 at LSU where Andersson Garcia had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics