Andre Gordon scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Texas A&M hit on all cylinders during an 85-65 win over visiting New Orleans on Tuesday in College Station, Texas.
The Aggies led by 18 points at the break and by 20 five and a half minutes into the second half before New Orleans pulled to within 53-41 via an 8-0 run. But Wade Taylor IV canned a 3-pointer and a layup for A&M, and Hassan Diarra added a pair of buckets to rebuild the Aggies’ advantage to 21 points — and they cruised to the finish.
It was the third consecutive win for the Aggies (7-1), who got just five points in 16 minutes from leading scorer Quenton Jackson and were without Henry Coleman III, their second-leading scorer and top rebounder.
Tyrece Radford added 13 points for Texas A&M, with Diarra and Taylor IV scoring 11 apiece and Marcus Williams hitting for 10 points. The Aggies were 11 of 23 from beyond the arc and outrebounded New Orleans 41-33.
Derek St. Hilaire led all scorers with 20 points while Troy Green added 17 and Simeon Kirkland tallied 10 for the Privateers (3-5), who have lost two of their past three games.
The Aggies took charge early on, running out to a 16-6 lead after Williams’ 3-pointer at the 15:49 mark. New Orleans cut its deficit to six points on two occasions, the latest after a layup by Green with 13:15 to play in the half before A&M drew away again, leading by 20 points with 2:34 left. Neither team scored over the final 2:12 of the period as the Aggies assumed a comfortable 44-26 advantage at the break.
Williams led the Aggies with 10 points in the first half as Texas A&M outshot the Privateers 47.1 percent to 33.3 percent and forced 10 New Orleans turnovers.
St. Hilaire paced the Privateers with 10 points at halftime.
–Field Level Media
