Aggies survive Mississippi State's late rally on Senior Night, 75-69
Wade Taylor IV and Solomon Washington made clutch plays in the final minutes to help Texas A&M hold off a Mississippi State rally and claim a 75-69 Southeastern Conference basketball victory on Wednesday at Reed Arena.
The Aggies (17-13, 8-9) led by as much as 23 points in the second half, but their lead dwindled to 72-69 with 1:35 remaining.
But Washington got a huge offensive rebound that led to a Taylor 3-pointer with 1:02 left.
Washington followed with two acrobatic rebounds on the defensive end that allowed the Aggies to close out a victory that kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
Taylor had been struggling of late. He had converted just 3-of-26 attempts from 3-point range in the previous four games, but, tonight, he hit three triples en route to a 13-point performance.
Manny Obaseki led the Aggies with 17 points, while Washington had 15 and Tyrece “Boots” Radford added 14.
Mississippi State (19-11, 8-9) was led by guard Josh Hubbard with 24 points and Dashawn Davis with 15.
The Aggies started hot from the outset. Taylor drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key on the first shot of the game. That led to an early 7-0 lead.
A&M shot a sizzling 60 percent from the field and 70 percent from 3-point range in the first half.
Still, the score was deadlocked at 26 until Solomon Washington took over with just over five minutes left in the half.
Washington scored consecutive 3-point plays and added a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Taylor then turned a steal into a 3-pointer to cap a 12-2 run, which staked the Aggies to a 38-28.
If that wasn’t bad enough for Mississippi State, Hubbard, who had 14 points in the half, picked up his third foul with 4:32 left.
The Bulldogs played the remainder of the half without Hubbard or 6-foot-11 forward Tolu Smith, who picked up his second foul with 5:05 left.
The Aggies capitalized on their absence to take a 45-32 lead at the break.
They stayed on a torrid pace to start the second half. Radford opened the half with a driving layup and hit a 3-pointer to highlight a 9-0 run.
Almost four minutes elapsed before Mississippi State scored in the second half. By then, the Aggies had built their lead to 57-34 with 15:16 left.
But from there the Aggies went cold, while Mississippi State caught fire.
The Bulldogs’ Davis hit three consecutive 3-pointers to launch a furious rally.
A&M hit just one of its next 10 shots. Mississippi State took advantage to pull within 65-61 on a Davis free throw with just over five minutes left.
But Washington converted another 3-point play, and Obaseki hit a layup and a couple of free throws to momentarily stave off the Bulldogs.
However, Mississippi State’s Cameron Matthews broke open for a baseline dunk that brought the Bulldogs within 72-69 with 1:35 to play.
Taylor then missed a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Washington pulled down the rebound and got the ball back to Taylor.
Taylor then knocked down a second-chance 3-pointer that enabled A&M to knock off the Bulldogs.
