Despite a 16-point performance from junior Jamal Jones, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team fell to the Missouri Tigers 57-56 Wednesday in Columbia, Mo.
A&M came out of the gates strong, going on a 15-10 run while leading the entire first half. At the 4:57 mark in the first half, Kourtney Roberson went down after taking an elbow to the chin from Jabari Brown. Roberson would later return to play in the second half.
The Aggie defense forced a Missouri turnover in the final possession of the half, and went in to the intermission with a 30-20 advantage.
The Aggie offense was fueled in the first half by Jones and sophomore Antwan Space. Jones and Space contributed nine and eight-point performances, respectively.
On the defensive side, A&M held the Tigers 29-percent shooting from the field in the first half.
With 16:05 left, sophomore Alex Caruso stole an inbound pass and was fouled after finishing the fast break layup. Caruso completed the three-point play, giving the Aggies their largest lead of the game at 37-26.
However, Texas A&M was unable to hold its lead, allowing Missouri to go on a 11-2 surge to close the gap to 43-42 with 9:15 remaining in the second half.
Following a spinning layup by Mizzou’s Earnest Ross, the Tigers closed the gap to 56-55. With possession and 16 seconds remaining, Jones was unable to handle the ensuing inbound pass as it trickled out of bounds in favor of Missouri.
On the following possession, the A&M defense forced Brown to commit a traveling violation, giving the Aggies the ball with 8.1 seconds left and a one-point lead.
Before A&M could inbound the ball, a foul was committed by Missouri guard Wes Clark sending Jones to the line. Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one as Ross grabbed the rebound for Mizzou. A&M junior guard Jordan Green immediately fouled Ross, putting him at the free throw line for two shots.
After missing all of his shots in the first half, Earnest Ross sank two clutch free throws to give the Tigers their first lead at 57-56 with 7 seconds left in the game.
After sloppy plays by both squads in the final seconds, one of which included Jordan Clarkson possibly stepping out of bounds, the referees pulled the two coaches together and announced that the ball stayed inbounds and Missouri had won the game.
Caruso was all over the court Wednesday, scoring 13 points, dishing out four assists and grabbing five steals. Caruso also shot 5-of-8 from the field and was a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line.
Brown, the leading scorer in the SEC, finished with 20 points and four rebounds. Clarkson also contributed a 14-point performance for the Tigers.
The Aggies have now lost all but one of their road games in conference play, with the lone win coming against Tennessee on Jan. 11.