Spring Break
Aggies fall 72-68 at Baylor
By: David Arno
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: Sports
WACO, Texas-On Saturday evening, the Texas A&M men's basketball team lost a close game to Big 12 rival Baylor 72-68 in front of a crowd of 10,407 at the Ferrell Center in Waco.
In a game that both teams needed to win in order to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, the Aggies came up short.
The Aggies (17-8, 3-7) have now lost three straight games, and have yet to win a conference game on the road.
Baylor (16-9, 4-7) snapped a six game losing streak, and avenged their 84-73 loss to the Aggies in College Station.
"I thought you have to give Baylor a lot of credit. They haven't been shooting the ball particularly well, and tonight they did," said A&M head coach Mark Turgeon. "I think some of it was our defense, but I think a lot of it was they were just really determined tonight and played well."
Baylor opened the game with a quick 5-0 lead before the Aggies got on the scoreboard. A&M took their first lead of the game at the 15 minute mark when pulled ahead 12-10 off of a goal by senior Josh Carter. After battling for the majority of the half, the Bears outscored the Aggies 12-4 in the last seven minutes and went into the locker room at halftime with a 40-28 lead.
The second half of play saw a different A&M team that came out and cut the Baylor lead to one with 12:37 left in the game. The Bears then went on a 16-7 run over the next six minutes before A&M mounted a comeback. Behind strong play from juniors Donald Sloan, Derrick Roland, and Bryan Davis, the Aggies were able to take the Bears to the wire off of a Sloan three-pointer with 44 seconds left in the game to cut the Baylor lead to two. Baylor responded however, when senior guard Curtis Jerrells scored with eleven seconds remaining to give the Bears the winning margin.
"I felt our players were going to do what they had to do to win," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I just had to make sure they weren't tired at the end. As a coaching staff, we made a conscious decision to use more of our bench because our guys needed enough energy at the end to play it out."
Carter led the way for the Aggies, with 20 points. Davis scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds for A&M, while Roland and Sloan scored 13 apiece.
Jerrells had 14 points and seven assists on the night, while junior Tweety Carter added 14 points also. Senior Kevin Rogers and freshman Anthony Jones both chipped in 12 points.
In a game that both teams needed to win in order to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, the Aggies came up short.
The Aggies (17-8, 3-7) have now lost three straight games, and have yet to win a conference game on the road.
Baylor (16-9, 4-7) snapped a six game losing streak, and avenged their 84-73 loss to the Aggies in College Station.
"I thought you have to give Baylor a lot of credit. They haven't been shooting the ball particularly well, and tonight they did," said A&M head coach Mark Turgeon. "I think some of it was our defense, but I think a lot of it was they were just really determined tonight and played well."
Baylor opened the game with a quick 5-0 lead before the Aggies got on the scoreboard. A&M took their first lead of the game at the 15 minute mark when pulled ahead 12-10 off of a goal by senior Josh Carter. After battling for the majority of the half, the Bears outscored the Aggies 12-4 in the last seven minutes and went into the locker room at halftime with a 40-28 lead.
The second half of play saw a different A&M team that came out and cut the Baylor lead to one with 12:37 left in the game. The Bears then went on a 16-7 run over the next six minutes before A&M mounted a comeback. Behind strong play from juniors Donald Sloan, Derrick Roland, and Bryan Davis, the Aggies were able to take the Bears to the wire off of a Sloan three-pointer with 44 seconds left in the game to cut the Baylor lead to two. Baylor responded however, when senior guard Curtis Jerrells scored with eleven seconds remaining to give the Bears the winning margin.
"I felt our players were going to do what they had to do to win," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I just had to make sure they weren't tired at the end. As a coaching staff, we made a conscious decision to use more of our bench because our guys needed enough energy at the end to play it out."
Carter led the way for the Aggies, with 20 points. Davis scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds for A&M, while Roland and Sloan scored 13 apiece.
Jerrells had 14 points and seven assists on the night, while junior Tweety Carter added 14 points also. Senior Kevin Rogers and freshman Anthony Jones both chipped in 12 points.
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