Elston Turner hit a 12-foot jumper with 6 seconds to play for his only points of the second half and No. 19 Texas A&M beat St. John’s 58-57 on Friday in the third-place game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.
Nurideen Lindsey of St. John’s missed two free throws with 2.3 seconds left and Turner grabbed the final rebound to give the Aggies (3-1) the win at Madison Square Garden.
Lindsey’s misses capped a horrible final few minutes at the line for the Red Storm (3-2), who went 5 of 13 on free throws over the closing 6:21.
Ray Turner had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Aggies, who are playing the first month of the season without Big 12 All-Conference pick Khris Middleton. He had surgery on his right knee Nov. 11.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
Team
– The win snapped a 2-game losing streak to Big East opponents and was A&M’s first over a team from the conference since 2007 … A&M’s last victory against a Big East foe had come against Louisville in the 2007 NCAA Tournament (second round).
– The game marked the first-ever meeting between the schools.
– A&M improved to 3-2 all-time inside Madison Square Garden.
– A&M’s 3 free throw attempts were the fewest by an Aggie team in records dating back to 1989.
– The Aggies’ 2 made free throws were their fewest since going 1-for-4 at the line at Kansas State in 2002 (Feb. 12).
– A&M’s 16 offensive rebounds were the most since the Aggies grabbed 16 in a 64-56 win over Kansas State last season (1/22/11).
Individual
– Kourtney Roberson set a new career high with 11 rebounds.
– Ray Turner hit double-figures in scoring for the third time in four games this year and the fourth time in his career.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
“Obviously we feel very fortunate to win. Our guys fought hard and have been through some adverse situations over the last month and a half. We found a way to get it done. I thought we outplayed them for the most part but you’ve got to give them credit. I think they shot 38 free throws and unfortunately we didn’t get to the line very much. That kept them in the game and fortunately for us we made a shot, got a break and we were able to steal a win.”
On the sloppy nature of the game… “I think it’s early this time of year, teams don’t have any consistency. We played a lot of guys in different lineups. We’re still searching, I’m definitely searching, I’ve only coached this team for a week. There were a lot of errors on my part and it’s just the beginning of the season. You’re going to see some ugly basketball and there were a lot of ugly situations on both sides. We were fortunate to get a break. Our guys listened at the end. We wanted Elston to get the shot and fortunately he made a shot.”
On bouncing back from last night.. “I really like our guys’ character. They were disappointed in the way they played last night, especially the first five minutes of that game. Mississippi State took it at us and dominated us for a segment. I thought our guys bounced back and we threw the first punch. That’s how we wanted to play, we wanted to be aggressive. We’re still figuring ourselves out, and it was good to see some resiliency. It may be that’s how our games will be this year. We struggled scoring, we struggled guarding the ball, and maybe we will have to win ugly games. But we’ll take it.”
Did you attribute the free-throw disparity to home cooking? “New York’s a great city, I’ll leave it at that. But I think justice was served at the end. We were fortunate. I’ve never been in a situation where it was that big of a discrepancy. And we did foul, but I thought we’d get more free throws. But that’s how the game was called and we were blessed to get a win.”
G ELSTON TURNER
On the final shot… “Well, the play didn’t really go as planned. I was trying to make a quick move but they did a great job of cutting me off. I kicked it to Jamal and he kicked it right back to me. I tried to get Ray to come up and set a screen but they forced me away from it, which gave me an open lane to it. And as soon as he did that I was like, ‘I have to make this shot’, especially because I feel I could have played a lot better tonight. I wasn’t going to let my team down.”
On how much his role has changed since Khris Middleton’s injury and how much the shot may propel him… “It hasn’t changed that much. Losing Khris is losing 15 to 20 points a game. Not just me, but our whole team has stepped up. Ray has been unbelievable. Naji has come in and contributed. So has Jordan. Everybody has stepped up their role. When Khris comes back that’s just going to be a more of a plus.”
Was the free throw differential shocking to you? “Real shocking. I don’t think I’ve ever played in a game like that, 38 to 3. That’s some serious adversity right there. That just shows the character of our team. The whole game, especially the second half, we were just talking about the free throw advantage they had and we just kept fighting and fighting and we came away with a win. That just shows that we played with a lot of heart tonight.”
F RAY TURNER
On bouncing back from last night and how important it was to come back with a win… “It was really important. The guys stayed on me about keeping my head up and trying to stay focused. Last night was just one of those games where it wasn’t my day I guess. They told me to keep my head up and focus on the next game, and that day was behind us. And that’s what I did.”
ST. JOHN’S POSTGAME QUOTES
St. John’s Head Coach Steve Lavin
On his players playing from behind… “They did an admirable job, our players, did an admirable job of fighting back, kind of scratching and clawing, to get back and even, you know, have a lead and have a chance with one stop to get a win. But you have to credit Texas A&M, you know, they hit a big shot and executed well on the road and overcame a free throw disparity. So, if you’re Billy Kennedy, you have to be pleased that you’re able to get a big win like that coming off a loss. And for us we just have to get better, go back to work, you know, in terms of our free throw shooting. And last night I thought turnovers were really costly and tonight it was free throws, but both games down the stretch we weren’t able to put away an opponent because of something that we can control. So we’ll go back to work, what we call correctible errors. And try and get better and get ready for Tuesday night.”
On the variability of problems… “The last two nights have been frustrating from that standpoint, that it’s kind of been a moving target. You feel as though you move the bucket, you know there’s a leak, and you move the bucket, take care of that and then you move the bucket again.”
On the team’s youth… “We want to come of age sooner rather than later, because you’re getting ready for some really tough games on the road and then you got Big East conference play and it’s not going to get any easier. A number of things come from, you know, just having never having experienced these situations, so it’s the first of everything: the first Division I college basketball game, the first game in Madison Square Garden, first game against a nationally ranked opponent, first game playing on national TV, there’s going to be the first road game for them.”
“The challenge is finding that balance between being patient, because we’re young, but also needing to accelerate their learning curve because we’re St. John’s, and naturally, moral victories is not why we’re here.”
Freshman guard D’Angelo Harrison on free throws… “We obviously get to the line a lot. You can’t just blame Nuri [Nurideen Lindsey], everybody missed free throws, more than at least two. At least two or three. Hey, I missed two free throws, so I feel like I lost the game. I missed two free throws, I’m pretty sure Gift [God’sgift Achiuwa] feels the same way, Moe [Harkless] missed two free throws, Phil’s [Greene] 100 percent, so he’s good [laughter].