No. 13 Texas A&M holds off upset-minded Oral Roberts

Field Level Media|published: Fri 17th November, 22:16 2023

Nov 17, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies forward Henry Coleman III (15) dunks the ball during the first half against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at Reed Arena. credits: Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Henry Coleman III scored 19 points and added 10 rebounds, and Wade Taylor IV had a key layup late and two clinching free throws as No. 13 Texas A&M outlasted visiting Oral Roberts 74-66 on Friday in College Station, Texas.

The Aggies (4-0) led by seven points at halftime and by 11 with 13:34 to play but then went 4 1/2 minutes without a field goal, allowing Oral Roberts to claw to within 56-48. Texas A&M pushed its advantage back to 12 before Issac McBride poured in a 3-pointer to cull the Golden Eagles' deficit back to nine points with 5:19 remaining.

The lead was just 66-60 after McBride hit a floater with 1:10 to play. But Taylor got loose for a breakaway on an inbounds pass to expand the Aggies' advantage to eight points and canned two from the free-throw line with 21 seconds left.

Taylor scored 16 points for the Aggies, and Tyrece Radford added 11 points.

McBride led the Golden Eagles (1-3) with a game-high 27 points. DeShang Weaver finished with 14 points, and Kareen Thompson added 12.

Oral Roberts stayed with Texas A&M during the first 11 minutes of the game, leading 24-19 after Thompson poured in a 3-pointer with 9:15 to play in the first half. But the Aggies reeled off a 7-2 run that featured six points from Coleman via two free throws, a rousing putback dunk and a layup that tied the score at 26 with 5:10 remaining.

Texas A&M ended the half by scoring 12 of the final 17 points and took a 38-31 lead into the break on Radford's layup with three seconds left.

Coleman's 13 points and five rebounds before halftime led all players while McBride's 12 points paced the Golden Eagles. Texas A&M led after 20 minutes despite going 0 for 8 from beyond the arc and being outshot 50 percent to 43.8 percent in the half.

The Aggies pushed their lead to nine points on Taylor's jumper 10 seconds into the second half before Oral Roberts put together a 7-0 run capped by Josh Jones' two free throws at the 16:26 mark. Texas A&M swung back with a 12-3 spurt that finished with a layup by Solomon Washington and regained control.

—Field Level Media

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