Credit to Brad Marquardt | Assistant Athletics Director for Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Texas A&M men’s basketball team held LSU to a single field goal over the game’s final four minutes as the Aggies held off the Tigers for a 73-69 SEC road victory on Saturday at the Maravich Assembly Center.
It was the Aggies’ second straight win in Baton Rouge, which was a first for the program. Texas A&M improved to 11-7 overall and 2-3 vs. SEC foes, while the Tigers fell to 11-7 and 3-2.
A 3-pointer by preseason SEC Player of the Year Wade Taylor IV broke a 67-67 tie with 2:56 remaining and the Aggies never trailed again as they put the defensive clamps on the Tigers. The Aggies limited the Tigers to just a single shot on consecutive possessions as Tyrece Radford and Jace Carter pulled down defensive rebounds. The Tigers clawed back within a point on a layup, but a pair of free throws by Taylor made it a three-point game. LSU launched a final try at tying 3-pointer, but the shot was off and Solomon Washington pulled in the rebound and made a free throw to secure the victory.
Taylor tallied a game-high 19 points, all in the second half, despite playing a season-low 21 minutes due to foul trouble. Taylor filled the box score with four 3-pointers, five rebounds and three assists. Joining Taylor in double figures were Radford with 15, Carter with 13 and Andersson Garcia with 10. Garcia also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, including six offensive caroms, as he logged his second straight double-double and third of the season. Radford fell just shy of his first double-double of the season with nine rebounds, including five offensive boards.
Outhustled and out-rebounded in the first meeting two weeks ago, the Aggies won the rebounding battle, 48-34, and had a 21-6 advantage on the offensive glass. The offensive glass dominance led the Aggies to post an astounding 27-0 advantage in second-chance points. For the game, the Aggies took nine more shots than the Tigers, but enjoyed a 10-shot advantage in the second half alone.
Down two points at the break, the Aggies roared out of the locker room, out-scoring the Tigers, 14-6, by the first media timeout to grab at six-point advantage 47-41. Taylor and Carter accounted for all 14 points, with “4” pouring in 10 points in the first four minutes of the second half. The Tigers responded, however, and regained the lead before the two teams traded blows until the final minutes. The two teams were tied four times and the game saw seven lead changes.
After falling behind 9-0 in the first four minutes of the first half, the Aggies dug in and slowly climbed back into the contest as Carter and Garcia drained a pair of 3-pointers each. While the Aggies shot 36.7% overall from the field in the first stanza, they connected on 6-of-13 from beyond the arc to lead the charge back. The Aggies eventually grabbed their first lead of the game at 3:39 on Radford’s 3-pointer. The Tigers regained the lead and Wildens Leveque’s pair of free throws drew the Aggies within two at halftime, 35-33.
GAME NOTES:
GARCIA GETTING GOING: Andersson Garcia picked up his second double-double in a row with 10 points and 10 rebounds while earning his career-high 2 three-pointers made. Garcia had a game-high six offensive boards and tallied four assists. Garcia now has over 300 rebounds at Texas A&M, 160 from this season.
DOUBLE FIGURE FUN: Four Aggies scored double-digit points including Wade Taylor IV (19), Tyrece Radford (15), Jace Carter (13) and Garcia (10). This is the first time in SEC play this season that four Aggies finished in double figures.
CREATING OPPORTUNITY: Texas A&M had 27 second-chance points to LSU’s zero and 21 offensive caroms to the Tigers’ six. This is the most second-chance points allowed by LSU this season.
DEFEAT THE ODDS: This is the first time Texas A&M has had consecutive wins in Baton Rouge after ending a five-game losing streak at LSU last year with a 74-62 win. Since joining the SEC the Aggies are 4-8 in Baton Rouge.
MILESTONES: Radford joined the Texas A&M 500-rebound club with the nine boards secured. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native has 508 rebounds in the Maroon & White and 814 career rebounds.