COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Lamonte Turner scored 14 points and Detrick Mostella added 13 as Tennessee beat Texas A&M 73-63 on Thursday night in the teams’ Southeastern Conference opener.
The Volunteers (8-5) overwhelmed the Aggies (8-4) in points off turnovers (19-6), while creating 16 A&M turnovers to 10 of their own.
A&M’s D.J. Hogg led all scorers with 21 points, and the Aggies’ Tonny Trocha-Morelos grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
The teams were tied 29-all at halftime. Hogg scored 13 points over the first 20 minutes, making all three of his 3-point attempts in that span. But he cooled off in the second half right along with his teammates.
Vols point guard Jordan Bone returned to action after missing the last nine games because of a stress fracture in his foot. Bone started two of Tennessee’s first three games prior to the injury, averaging 9.3 points and 3.3 assists in that span. On Thursday Bone played eight minutes and missed all three of his field-goal attempts.
The Vols snapped a four-game losing streak to A&M, with all of those games as SEC foes, and eased ahead in the all-time series 6-5. Tennessee also proved to have a much deeper bench than A&M, with the Volunteers reserves outscoring their Aggies counterparts 30-8.
Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes
Texas A&M Forward DJ Hogg & Guard Admon Gilder
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Kennedy
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics