No. 20 Texas A&M survives Rutgers with 81-77 win

LAS VEGAS — Wade Taylor IV scored 24 points and No. 20 Texas A&M defeated Rutgers 81-77 Saturday in the fifth-place game of the Players Era Festival.

Rutgers overcame a six-point halftime deficit and led by nine with 12:51 left, but the Aggies closed the game on a 27-14 run to seal the win.

Solomon Washington, Henry Coleman III and Manny Obaseki added 11 apiece for the Aggies (6-2).

Rutgers (5-3) was led by Ace Bailey, who finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jeremiah Williams added 20, and Dylan Harper scored 18.

Takeaways

Rutgers: Williams averaged 7.3 points on 45.5% shooting during the team’s first six games. His 20 points were his highest production since Nov. 21, 2021, when he scored 22 against Elon on Temple’s basketball team.

Texas A&M: Coleman finished the tournament with a team-best 77.7% shooting percentage (14 of 18). He also grabbed a team-high 22 rebounds.

Key moment

Trailing by one, the Scarlet Knights had a chance to take the lead, but Zach Martini fumbled a pass out of bounds. Taylor hit two free throws on the ensuing possession to give the Aggies a three-point cushion. Zhuric Phelps made two more free throws with 1.9 seconds left to seal the win.

Key stat

The teams combined to go 2 of 20 from 3-point range in the first half. Texas A&M came in averaging 31.4% from beyond the arc but missed all seven attempts, and Rutgers, normally 33.3% from long range, made 2 of 13 from deep. The Aggies finished 2 of 15 while Rutgers hit 6 of 26 3-pointers.

Up next

Rutgers opens Big Ten play at Ohio State on Saturday, and Texas A&M hosts Wake Forest in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday.