Spring Break
Curse breaker
A&M breaks a 0-3 Cox-McFerrin Center drought with a victory against Tech.
By: David Arno
Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: News
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Both teams came into the game struggling in Big 12 play with Tech having lost three of their first four conference games and A&M having dropped three consecutive matches since the opening of the Cox-McFerrin Center.
"It just feels good to score more points than the other team, it's been awhile," said Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon. "I thought Texas Tech was great. I thought our kids were really good after the slow start and we did what we had to do."
The Red Raiders jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first 3:30 of the first half. The Aggies fought back and took the lead for the first time when sophomore guard B.J. Holmes drained his fifth consecutive 3-point shot to put A&M up 36-33.
The half ended with senior forward Bryan Davis putting back a missed layup as time expired with a 43-40 A&M lead.
The second half began similar to the first, with Tech scoring the first six points to put the Red Raiders up by three points. The rest of the game remained close until the Aggies were able to put some distance between themselves and Tech. With five minutes remaining they closed out the game with a victory over their conference rival.
"It seems like forever since we played at home, but after that three game losing streak, nobody got down and everyone kept a good attitude," Holmes said. "I think that it helped our confidence a lot and so now we can get momentum going into the later stages of the Big 12."
Leading the way for A&M was Holmes with 24 points and was 6-for-7 in 3-point shooting. Holmes did not miss a shot from beyond the arc until the 12:20 mark in the second half.
"After he started hitting shots, we had to stick with him, but he hit his shots," said Texas Tech Head Coach Pat Knight. "I mean you can't stop all of them."
Helping out was Davis with 13 points and eight rebounds, freshman David Loubeau with 11 points and eight rebounds and junior Derrick Roland with 11 points.
For the Red Raiders, sophomore John Roberson scored 20 points and made 13 assists. Also contributing was freshman Robert Lewandowski with 20 points and senior Alan Voskuil with 16. Senior Damir Suljagic scored eight points and pulled down six rebounds for the Red Raiders.
"All in all, I'm proud of our players," Turgeon said. "It's a good win, and once again I thought our crowd was fantastic, especially the student body."
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