COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Texas A&M dares opponents to take 3-point shots. The Memphis Tigers happily accepted their offer.
David Jones scored 29 points, Jahvon Quinnerly added 24 as Memphis (7-2) handled the 21st-ranked Aggies (6-3) 81-75 at Reed Arena Sunday afternoon.
The Aggies did not help themselves as they turned the ball over 12 times and hit just 6 of 33 3-point attempts, shooting 39% from the field overall. Memphis, on the other hand, shot a crisp 48%, including 56% from 3-point range in the second half.
Quinnerly, who lit up A&M last season while at Alabama, picked up where he left off Sunday. He hit 8 of 13 shots, including a pair of 3s, as he convincingly won his one-on-one battle with A&M point guard Wade Taylor.
Memphis led nearly the whole way, including by 9 at the half. At that point, the Aggies were clearly off their game, as Taylor had 2 points, forward Henry Coleman had 4 and guard Boots Radford, who had missed the last three games, was scoreless.
A&M cut Memphis’ lead to 2 when Radford made his first basket with 16:34 to go in the game, but the Aggies then completely collapsed with a 12-2 run by Memphis, which included the last of Jones’ 5 3-pointers on the day. It also included 7 Aggie turnovers, including two instances where four players ran up the court leaving the ball handler (Hefner and Taylor) to be trapped, forcing turnovers.
After a scorching performance from the floor against DePaul, A&M reverted back to the terrible shooting they’ve displayed nearly all season, hitting just 37% from the field. They made just 3 of 16 3s in the second half, killing any chance at a comeback.
The only Aggie to shoot remotely well was guard Manny Obaseki, who scored 21 points. He was the only A&M player to reach double figures, with Taylor scoring 9 points on 3 of 14 shooting, and Radford adding 8 on 3 of 9 shooting. Coleman, the team’s leading scorer to this point in the season, had just 6 points on 5 shots.
A&M did make it interesting in the final minute, with Obaseki scoring 6 points in an 8-2 run to get the lead to 79-75. Jones, appropriately, sealed the Memphis win with a pair of free throws with 5.6 seconds left to provide the final margin.
