News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
FORT WORTH – The No. 22 Texas A&M men’s basketball team (8-2) capitalized on a season-low nine turnovers in a 72-67 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-2) in Sunday’s US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge inside Dickies Arena.
With the outcome in the balance late in the game, the Aggies made 8-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute to hold off a barrage of late Tech 3-pointers.
Tech’s Chance McMillan cut the A&M advantage to 64-61 with 50 seconds left, but Wade Taylor IV and Henry Coleman III each hit a pair of free throws to inflate the cushion to 68-61 with 14 seconds on the clock. In the final 10 seconds, Tech got 3-pointers from Darrion Williams and McMillan and the Maroon & White had Solomon Washington and Taylor drain two foul shots each.
The difference in the contest was Texas A&M defense forcing 18 turnovers, including 10 in the second half, while the Aggies committed just nine on the offensive end. The Maroon & White owned an 18-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Taylor led the Aggies with 19 points and four assists, while grabbing three rebounds and two steals. Jace Carter scored 16 points, shooting 5-of-6 (83.3%) from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. He added five rebounds two assists and a steal. Zhuric Phelps chipped in 12 points, two assists and two steals. Washington pulled down nine rebounds, including six offensive boards, and added two blocks and eight points.
Taylor got the Aggies off to a blistering start, scoring eight points in the first 2:52 of play as the Maroon & White jumped out to an 11-2 lead. The advantage ballooned to 11 points before Texas Tech showed signs of life. Tech’s Kevin Overton sank 3-point field goals on back-to-back trips down the court to cut the A&M margin to 13-8 at the 13:21 mark.
Carter accounted for Texas A&M’s next 13 points over a span of 4:27, including three long-range field goals, as the Aggies went ahead 26-15 with 6:57 remaining in the first half.
After the Red Raiders cut the deficit to 26-24, it was Manny Obaseki’s turn to power the offense with buckets the next three trips down the court as the Aggies staked claim to a 34-29 lead at the 2:23 mark and the Maroon & White nursed a 34-31 advantage going into halftime.
The Red Raiders went on a 10-2 run coming out of the locker room, grabbing their first lead of the game, 41-36 at the 16:30 mark.
The Aggies tied the game on three occasions over the next eight minutes and finally reclaimed the lead when Phelps drained a 3-pointer at the 7:31 mark to push Texas A&M ahead 54-52. The 11-0 surge by the Maroon & White widened the gap to 60-52 and Ol’ Sarge’s charges led the rest of the way.
GAME NOTES
CARTER COLLECTING: Jace Carter racked up 16 points with a season-high three from behind the arc to record the most points scored since arriving to Aggieland. Carter also tabbed five boards and dished out two assists.
TURNOVER BATTLE: Texas A&M won the turnover battle forcing 18 Texas Tech turnovers while giving up the rock a season-low of nine. The Aggies capitalized by recording 18 points off turnovers.
RIVALRY RENEWED: The win over the Red Raiders marks the seventh in a row in this rivalry where the Aggies hold a 9-1 edge in the last 10 matchups.