Speeding off to a 16-0 run, the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies got off to an early start as they took care of the UT-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros 78-60 at Reed Arena Thursday evening.
To what looked like the path to an early victory for A&M who had a lead as big as 19, with a 12-point lead going into the half, 40-28.
Then came the second half where the Vaqueros didn’t let up and found new life and had gotten within six points with eight minutes left in the second half holding the lead 54-48. But, eventually the Aggies pulled away as they put their starting five back on the floor and then scored nine consecutive points putting UTRGV down the stretch.
A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said he was pleased with the win, but frustrated that the game was as close it was.
“I’m definitely happy with the win, we couldn’t get comfortable offensively and defensively,” Kennedy said. “Whatever the reason is, we just don’t get comfortable we weren’t able to create enough turnovers on defense. All these little things the intangibles, we got to overcome that; having a 16-0 run we got to instill that fire.”
In front of 7,021 fan in attendance, the Aggies (7-0) had completed 18 of 30 from the field, while Vaqueros (3-6) completed 11 of 13. A&M crashed and dominated the boards 47-37.
UTRGV’s head coach Lew Hill, who was the assistant head coach for A&M from 1998-2004, said he was very happy, with the way how his team played.
“We’ve been doing this almost all year, and we got back to where we had a really good practice yesterday,” Hill said. “I told my boys going into the matchup whatever happens fight and it’ll take care of itself. Going in these bigger school matchups, I really wanted to prep our guys going into the year having one of the toughest schedules in league.”
The Vaqueros were led by senior guard Nick Dixon who had 13 points, while senior forward Dan Kimasa had 12 points.
A&M was lead by juniors D.J. Hogg, and Admon Gilder who both had 17 points on the evening. Hogg eclipsed his second career double-double, recording 10 rebounds. Gilder was 5-of- 9 from the field. Junior center Tyler Davis had 13 points while collecting seven boards.
Gilder said he was really discontent for how the team kept up the consistency late
“”The energy level wasn’t there the whole 40 minutes of the game,” Gilder said. “We had a slow shoot-around, which carried over to the game. They played a zone again and packed it in, and we weren’t hitting shots today with guys being gone, and then they made their runs. You’ve got to give them credit for that.”
Hogg said with the way the team has opened the season they are now a team to beat and regardless of the opponent, they have to bring their best.
“We take every game the same, but we do have a target on our backs now especially that we’re in the Top 10,” Hogg said. “We’re everybody’s biggest game of the year. We’ve just got to come in the same we have been with better intensity and get everybody’s best shot.”
The Aggies have won seven straight, and each win has been by double digits.
A&M looks to return to the court with a key matchup against the Arizona Wildcats in the Valley of the Sun shootout on Tuesday December 5 at 8 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.