Wade Taylor IV tallied a game-high 22 points and Julius Marble scored a career-high 20 as Texas A&M outlasted Auburn 83-78 in a Southeastern Conference matchup on Tuesday in College Station, Texas.
A transfer from Michigan State, Marble scored 10 points over the final eight minutes as the Aggies (17-7, 9-2 SEC) rallied from an eight-point, second-half deficit for their fourth win in five games.
Andersson Garcia added 11 points and Tyrece Radford finished with just 10 points but hit two free throws with 24.9 seconds left to give the Aggies a four-point cushion.
Auburn’s Wendell Green Jr. scored 20 points and Johni Broome posted 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds. Jaylin Williams and Allen Flanigan scored 12 points each for the Tigers (17-7, 7-4), who lost for the fourth time in their past five games.
The Tigers shot 30-for-64 (46.9 percent) from the field to the Aggies’ 23-for-54 (42.6 percent), but the Aggies were 31-for-39 (79.5 percent) on foul shots while Auburn was only 9-for-24 (64.3 percent) after getting to line only once in the first half.
Down by a point at the break after blowing a 12-point lead in the first half, the Tigers outscored the Aggies 13-4 to start the second half, establishing a 49-41 lead.
The Aggies rallied and forced ties at 57-57 and 59-59 before Radford’s corner 3-pointer put them up 62-61 with 7:43 remaining. That lead lasted only 23 seconds before Green banked in a mid-range jumper.
The teams swapped leads after that until the Aggies finally got a 4-point cushion at 78-74 after a Marble jumper with 2:09 left, and the hosts held on the rest of the way.
After falling behind 27-15, the Aggies went on a 22-9 surge that included a 12-0 run that helped them go to the locker room up 37-36. They ended the first half by shooting 5-for-7 from the field while the Tigers, who had a 9-0 run earlier, were only 3-for-10 over the last five minutes.
The game got intense at times with technical fouls assessed against Auburn’s Flanigan and Green and Texas A&M’s Solomon Washington in the first half.
–Field Level Media
