COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball program went punch-for-punch with Texas A&M on Monday at Reed Arena before suffering a hard-fought 76-72 loss in the exhibition matchup.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
The Javelinas forced a 69-69 late in the second half before the Aggies put away the next seven points en route to the win.
The Aggies held the early lead but a three-pointer from freshman Derek Luna (Palmview, Texas) and back-to-back layups from junior Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) and sophomore C.J. Smith (Mansfield, Texas) put the Hogs up 8-6 just ahead of the first media timeout at 16:01.
Both sides traded baskets before consecutive treys from senior Xaiver Armstead (Waco, Texas) capped by a fastbreak layup from Smith ballooned the lead to 20-11 with 11:16 remaining in the opening half.
TAMU cut the lead back to single digits and took over the lead on a long-ball from Hassan Diarra just after the third media timeout of the frame at 7:18. Smith poured in a pair of shots from the charity stripe as both teams resorted to another back-and-forth affair through the remainder of the half.
Junior Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) tacked on all seven of his first-half points starting with a perimeter shot with 5:55 showing on the clock and added four straight points for TAMUK starting at the 3:03 mark. Senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) tacked on the last five points for the Blue and Gold while the Aggies posted the last bucket of the first half with a buzzer-beating three-ball from Tyrece Radford to put the visitors in a 43-40 deficit at the break.
Smith came out of the break and tied the game at 43 apiece with a three-pointer by the 19:24 mark. TAMU rebuilt the lead to seven points after an Andre Gordon trey at 17:45, but the Hogs whittled down the deficit after Armstead drilled a pair of long-range shots and consecutive threes from Flowers put the Javelinas up 59-57 by the midpoint of the second half.
The Blue and Gold stayed toe-to-toe with the Aggies from that point, never letting the hosts ahead by more than three points as Flowers poured in a layup at 5:44 that set the score at 64-63, while senior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) gave the visitors a 67-66 lead with a layup at 3:56.
Another layup for TAMUK, courtesy of Armstead, tied the game at 69-69 with just over two-and-a-half minutes to go, but the Aggies quickly pushed the lead to 76-69 over the next 90 seconds and endured a late push en route to the final score at 76-72.
Smith finished with 15 points, six assists and five steals in the contest on a 6-for-12 clip from the floor. Flowers led all scorers with 17 points while shooting 6-for-13 from the floor.
Armstead added to the total with 14 points while missing only one shot from long range and finished with four rebounds. Brooks rounded out the quartet with 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting along with a pair of assists.
The Javelinas officially start their 2021-22 season next week at the LSC/RMAC Crossover on the road in Rapid City, S.D., against South Dakota Mines on Friday, November 12.
Get the Official Javelina Athletics Mobile App presented by Whataburger today! Download on the App Store or Get It on Google Play to keep up with all the news, scores and updates of your favorite Javelinas
Watch your Javelinas live on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy. Stay up-to-date with everything Javelina men's basketball at JavelinaAthletics.com, follow the program on Twitter @JavelinaMBB and see recent news on Facebook at /JavelinaMBB
#####
