ATHENS, GA. -- Sophomore guard Marcus Williams' 3-point basket with 1.2 seconds to go in the game allowed Texas A&M to escape with an 81-79 victory over Georgia Tuesday night.
The 3-pointer was avoided what would have been a massive letdown, as the Aggies (12-2, 1-0 SEC) had a 17-point lead with 17:40 to go in the game and saw the Bulldogs (5-9, 0-1 SEC) whittle it all away. A&M never trailed until 5.5 seconds left to go in the game, when Kario Oquendo (team high 21 points) hit a free throw to complete a 3-point play and put Georgia up 79-78.
At that point, the Aggies called on "Kevin".
After coach Buzz Williams called A&M's final timeout before Oquendo's free throw, the Aggies needed a full court play. Williams called "Kevin", a play he has had in his playbook since his days at Marquette.
The times it has been used before tonight: zero.
"Kevin has been in the playbook the last nine years and we’ve never run it in a game," Williams said. "Kevin is a full-court play. For every second, you should count dribbles. Five and a half seconds is enough for 5 dribbles, so it’s not a half-court heave."
After getting the inbound pass from Andre Gordon, Williams (18 points) sprinted up the far side, pulled up a couple of feet behind the 3-point line and buried the decisive shot. As the clock ran down, Georgia made no effort to defend the Aggie guard, something that he said came as a surprise.
"It looked like they were happy they were up 1, and we took advantage," he said.
Forward Henry Coleman, who kept the Aggies in the lead down the stretch with some key free throws, led A&M with 23 points. True freshman point guard Wade Taylor added 10 points, while leading scorer Quenton Jackson scored only 8 on 3 of 8 shooting.
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