Tyrece Radford amassed a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double to lead Texas A&M to a 74-62 win over Alcorn State on Tuesday in a National Invitation Tournament first-round game in College Station, Texas.
The Aggies, one of the four No. 1 seeds in the tournament, advances to play Oregon, an 83-72 winner at Utah State on Tuesday, in the second round on Saturday or Sunday in College Station.
Texas A&M (24-12) shrugged off a ragged first half to pull away from the Braves over the first 10 minutes after halftime. The Aggies did most of their damage over that stretch from the free-throw line, making 10 foul shots to offset more than 5 1/2 minutes without a field goal.
By the time Texas A&M regained the range from the floor, it had 12-point advantage. The Aggies kept their foot on the accelerator and cruised to the finish line to win their eighth game in their past nine outings.
Wade Taylor IV and Hassan Diarra added 12 points apiece for the Aggies, with Quenton Jackson hitting for 10.
Dominic Brewton led all scorers with 20 points while Lenell Henry had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Alcorn State (17-17), which earned a spot in the NIT by winning the SWAC regular-season title. Oddyst Walker tallied 10 points.
Both teams struggled to execute in the first half, with each shooting under 40 percent and no lead growing bigger that Alcorn State’s six-point edge after Brewton’s jumper with 5:44 to play in the half.
Texas A&M rallied, scoring 14 of the ensuing 19 points to take its largest lead of the half at 27-24 with 12 seconds left, but the Brewton canned a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game entering the break.
Brewton opened the second half with a three-point play, but Texas A&M answered by forging a 10-0 to go up 37-30 and never looked back.
The Aggies wound up 26 of 28 on free throws while the Braves were 5 of 9.
–Field Level Media