Fresh off a routing of the newly-named East Texas 87-55, Texas A&M men’s basketball resumed its home stretch in Reed Arena against Lamar on Monday.
Coming off an impressive 113-point performance against Paul Quinn College, Lamar dominated in their 71-point margin season opening win. But the trip to College Station from Beaumont proved to be too much for the Southeast Texas squad.
Coach Buzz Williams secured his 350th career win as A&M took care of business, 97-71, under the support of the 12th Man.
“Blessed and living a dream way bigger than any that I ever thought,” coach Williams said. “With just the trajectory of how this has all played out, I feel incredibly blessed. But like any coach would say, because of the volatility of what the business has become, I still have a job [to do].”
The Cardinals started off on a strong defensive foot, forcing two early turnovers on senior guard Zhuric Phelps and senior forward Jace Carter, in-route to a 5-point lead.
The SMU transfer Phelps, senior F Andersson Garcia and graduate G Wade Taylor loaded the Cardinals with three-pointers to take the early lead away from Lamar, 9-7.
The Maroon and White defense transitioned into a full-court press following three-straight offensive rebounds that were capped-off with a foul on Garcia, who proceeded to make both free throw attempts. Andy wasn’t finished, however.
The Dominican Rodman showcased his defensive prowess with a steal and then nailed a three in transition before securing another 2-points by way of a layup, courtesy of a turnover by Cardinal senior G Danquez Dawsey.
Garcia finished with a career-high 15-points combined with nine rebounds, in an unusual showing of offensive prowess. The last high-scoring game Garcia had was during his freshman year at Mississippi State, when he had 14-points against his current squad.
“He’s really bright,” coach Williams said. “How he processes rebounding is very savonte-ish. He is a much more confident shooter than he ever has been because of the work he has put in.”
Now up 33-22, the Aggies committed further in their three-point offense with a string of successful shots by Solomon Washington with one three-pointer, graduate G Hayden Heffner with two and graduate transfer G CJ Wilcher with one other.
With a new dish-and-shoot offensive scheme forming, the Fightin’ Farmers succeeded in proving they could score points from beyond the arc, finishing with 10 of 17 from the 3-point line, good for 58.8% at the end of the first half.
Between the 11 fast-break points and the barrage of threes, Lamar found themselves down 50-29 going into the break following a 15-4 run by A&M in the last 5 minutes of the half.
Dominican Republic native and junior Alexis Marmelejos was the lone-star of the first half for the Cards, posting a respectable 14-points with 44.4% shooting from the field.
Out of the half, both teams played a fierce defensive four minutes, drawing a combined seven fouls and three turnovers among the squads.
Even though A&M gave up empty points by allowing 25 free throw attempts, Lamar only capitalized on 68% from the line.
Trying to stop the barrage of shots made by the Maroon, Big Red switched to a full-court press following a defiant dunk by Phelps. Ultimately, the change proved to be ineffective as the Aggies turned to the paint with layups and dunks from Garcia and graduate F Henry Coleman, furthering the lead to 78-42.
“[Phelps’s] the same person every single day, so it’s not a shock to us,” Coleman said. “Right off the injury, he comes in and just berserk, and he is putting up the numbers he’s putting up. And his leadership has also helped us a lot … [He’s] someone that we really need on the floor, and he makes a huge impact. Not just scoring, but in other things as well.”
The Cardinals attempted to mount a comeback over the 36-point deficit with two straight three-pointers from senior G Ja’Sean Jackson and junior Beaumont native, F Andrew Holifield.
Despite an 11-5 run by Lamar, coach Williams once again stifled the Cardinals scoring cadence with a half-court press, holding onto his 30-point lead with seven minutes left to play.
Junior center and transfer from Minnesota, Pharrell Payne received a fast-break dish from Garcia for his first points of the night, remaining relatively quiet on the court in his 21 minutes.
Another extensive run for Big Red occurred from seven minutes until the four minute mark, going 13-6, with Jackson leading the pack.
Late in the game with two minutes to play, senior G Manny Obaseki had the entire student section cheering as he landed two offensive rebounds before the Aggie defense provided three impactful blocks to end the game, two from Payne and one from redshirt sophomore G Jaelyn Lee.
After not playing in the first half, Obaseki finished with eight points and three assists during his brief 13 minutes on the court.
Heading into a ranked matchup against Ohio State, Garcia stated how everyone needs to play their role and do what they do best in order to have a successful night.
“I feel like [the] mentality should be, like, just keep getting better,” Garcia said. “If you’re doing your role, try to try to be the best in your role. Don’t go outside of your role, and I feel like that will open up no matter who we play … just stick to our foundation.”
Next, A&M will host No. 21 Ohio State at Reed Arena on Friday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. on ESPN+.
