Wade Taylor IV cooly hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer with 19.5 seconds left to give Texas A&M a 56-55 victory over Florida in a Southeastern Conference matchup Tuesday night in College Station, Texas.
Florida’s Phlandrous Fleming Jr. missed a jumper with less than three seconds left, and the Aggies were awarded the ball out of bounds on the rebound to seal the win and snap their losing streak at eight games.
Quenton Jackson led the Aggies (16-10, 5-8) with 16 points, and Taylor finished with eight.
Colin Castleton led the Gators (16-10, 6-7) with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Myreon Jones also was in double figures with 10 points.
The Gators were up 55-51 with 1:44 left after rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit, but a jumper by Jackson and Taylor’s free throws helped to overcome that deficit.
The Aggies were up 43-31 with 11:02 left before the Gators rallied.
Both teams had shooting issues. The Aggies were only 19 of 56 (33.9 percent) from the field and 2 for 18 from 3-point range. The Gators were 17 of 59 (28.8 percent) overall and 7 of 30 from long range.
The Aggies went on a 15-0 run for an early 19-6 lead as the Gators fell into a scoring drought that lasted for over seven minutes. Florida missed its first 10 3-point attempts, and Anthony Duruji’s layup was their field goal in 15 tries in a stretch of over 11 minutes on the Gators’ way to a miserable 7-of-32 shooting performance for the half. They compounded that by making 10 turnovers in the period.
The Aggies had issues of their own, however, with Jackson’s layup their only basket in their last eight attempts. They finished the first 20 minutes only 9 of 28 from the field but led 27-20 at the break.
–Field Level Media