News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
The Texas A&M men’s basketball team outscored Ole Miss 12-2 in the final four minutes to pull out an 80-77 victory over the Rebels Wednesday evening inside Reed Arena.
The Aggies played from behind for the first 18:08 of the second half, trailing by as many as 13 points at 63-50 with 11:46 left in the contest. Every time Texas A&M (18-8, 8-5 SEC) cut the deficit to a single digit over the next four minutes, Ole Miss (11-15, 3-10 SEC) answered back.
The Maroon & White snapped the lull with a 3-point field goal by Rubén Dominguez and a dunk by Zach Clemence on back-to-back trips down the court to pull within five points at the 6:11 mark. The Rebels led 75-68 when Dominguez sank three from the charity strip and rained down a long-range bucket to spark the game-ending 12-2 run.
Clemence hit a jumper with a defender hanging on him, cutting Ole Miss’ advantage to 77-76 at the 2:06 mark. He missed his and-1 opportunity from the foul line to tie the game, but Josh Holloway pounced on the rebound and dished to Rashaun Agee for a driving layup as Texas A&M grabbed its first lead with 1:52 on the clock.
The Rebels missed 3-pointers on their next three trips down the court, but the Aggies were unable to seal the deal until Agee dropped in two from the from the foul line in the closing seconds.
Texas A&M made 19-of-31 (61.3%) from the field in the second half as Agee marshaled the troops with 13 points and seven rebounds in the stanza.
Agee registered a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and added five assists. Clemence tallied 14 points, four rebounds and two steals off the bench. Marcus Hill scored 14 points while Dominguez contributed 13 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Texas A&M dominated on the glass with a 37-23 rebounding margin, resulting in an 18-4 cushion in second-chance points.
The Aggies trailed by just five at halftime despite the offense failing to hit on all cylinders. The Maroon & White were ahead 14-8 with 13:21 on the clock before Ole Miss turned the tables. A 17-4 run over a span of 6:05 staked the Rebels to a 27-20 lead with 5:36 remaining in the half. Texas A&M shaved the deficit to one, but the Rebels sank 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the waning moments of the half and stretched the margin to 38-33.
Hill paced Texas A&M with 10 points in the opening act. He shot 4-of-8 from the field while the rest of the squad managed to hit just 7-of-23 (30.4%). The Aggies benefitted from a 21-14 rebounding advantage, including 10-3 in offensive boards, but Ole Miss held a 13-0 edge in fast break points.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return to action Saturday when they travel to Oklahoma for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the Sooners on SEC Network.