News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Powered by a season-high 25 points from Wade Taylor IV, the No. 13 Texas A&M men’s tallied a hard-fought 76-72 road victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday at Colonial Life Arena.
With the win, the Aggies head into the bye 17-5 overall and 6-3 in SEC play, while the Gamecocks fell to 10-12 and 0-9 while suffering their ninth straight defeat.
The Aggies led for nearly 38 minutes of the game but needed some key offensive and defensive plays down the stretch to hold off the Gamecocks, who drew as close as a bucket in the final minutes. Among the key plays was a lay-in from Henry Coleman III after plucking a miss out of mid-air and a steal from Jace Carter. Among the Aggies contributing clutch free throws in the final two minutes were Taylor, Obaseki, Phelps and Coleman.
Taylor, the graduate from Dallas, matched his career high of seven 3-pointers from last year’s NCAA Tournament win over Nebraska. All seven of his made field goals came from beyond the arc and he also dished out a pair of assists.
Joining him in double figures was Coleman, who battled to 12 points on 4-of-6 shots from the floor and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the line, while also pulling down a game-high eight rebounds. Zhuric Phelps filled the box score with nine points, six rebounds and three assists, while hitting 7-of-8 free throws.
The rebounding battle was fierce as the Aggies managed just a 32-29 advantage on the boards, including a 9-8 edge off the offensive glass. Texas A&M was successful on 70% of its free throw attempts while hitting 21-of-30 from the line, including 16 makes in the second half.
The Aggies took an eight-point lead into halftime, 44-36, with the bulk of the scoring coming from Taylor who drained 5-of-6 3-pointers on his way to 15 first-half points.