Solomon Washington scored a season-high 17 points off the bench Tuesday to help No. 8 Texas A&M rally for a 69-53 win over visiting Georgia in Southeastern Conference play in College Station, Texas.
Henry Coleman III added 13 points and Wade Taylor IV chipped in 12 for the Aggies (19-5, 8-3 SEC), who won their fourth straight game. Zhuric Phelps tallied all 10 of his points in the second half as Texas A&M outscored the Bulldogs 46-21 after the break.
Georgia (16-9, 4-8) was led by Silas Demary Jr.’s 19 points and Blue Cain’s 17. The Bulldogs were held without a field goal for the first 12:40 of the second half en route to their seventh loss in nine games.
Leading by nine at halftime, Georgia extended its advantage to 11 on Cain’s free throws to begin the second half. After Demary’s free throws gave the Bulldogs ahead 36-28 with 15:50 left, the Aggies took control of the game with a 22-0 run – including Phelps’ eight points and Washington’s seven – to open up a 50-36 lead with 9:01 remaining.
Asa Newell’s free throws finally stopped the bleeding for Georgia, but the Bulldogs remained without a second-half field goal until Newell’s dunk at the 7:20 mark, which cut Texas A&M’s lead to 55-42.
Coleman’s five straight points began a 9-1 Aggies spurt as Texas A&M took its largest lead of the game at 64-43 with just over four minutes left.
After Washington’s 3-pointer gave the Aggies their first lead at 7-5, Georgia answered with a 16-8 run – including two 3-pointers from Cain and Demary – to grab a 21-15 edge at the 10:29 mark.
Jace Carter’s layup trimmed the Aggies’ deficit to 23-19 before Cain scored five points during the Bulldogs’ ensuing 7-0 run that extended their lead to 11 with 3:46 left in the first half.
Cain’s 15 first-half points led all scorers as Georgia took a 32-23 lead into the break. Texas A&M shot 25 percent from the field, including a 1-for-10 clip from 3-point range, in the opening half.
–Field Level Media
