Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Wade Taylor IV scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to lead Texas A&M to a 77-58 victory over Abilene Christian on Friday in College Station, Texas.
Taylor shot 5 of 7 from the field, including a perfect 3 of 3 from 3-point range, while Henry Coleman III had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Aggies. Tyrece Radford scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Dexter Dennis chipped in 13 points.
Texas A&M (2-0) never trailed and led by as many as 19 points in the second half.
The Wildcats (1-1) were led by Airion Simmons’ 15 points and Immanuel Allen’s 14 points. Tobias Cameron had seven points, and Damien Daniels added six points and a team-high six rebounds.
The Aggies shot 23 of 44 (42.3 percent) from the field, including 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc, in addition to outrebounding the Wildcats 35-24. The Aggies also scored 34 points off the Wildcats’ 21 turnovers.
Abilene Christian shot 20 of 52 (38.5 percent) from the field, including 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) from deep.
Leading 34-29 at halftime, Texas A&M opened the second half on a 21-9 run to take a 55-38 lead on Hayden Hefner’s jumper with 11:23 left.
Coleman and Radford carried the Aggies in the first half, as each scored nine.
The Aggies shot 11 of 20 (55 percent) from the field before the break but just 1 for 7 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range and converted the Abilene Christian’s 12 turnovers into 20 points.
Allen scored 10 first-half points on 4-for-5 shooting, while Cameron added seven. The Wildcats kept it close by connecting on four of their eight 3-point attempts and scoring 13 points off the Aggies’ 12 turnovers.
–Field Level Media