Aggies drop NIT championship to Xavier in agonizing fashion, 73-72

NEW YORK CITY — Texas A&M’s amazing late-season surge came to an agonizing conclusion on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

Forward Jack Nunge banked in an off-balance, fade-away hook shot over Henry Coleman III with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift Xavier (23-13) to a 73-72 basketball victory over the Aggies (27-13) in the National Invitation Tournament championship game.

“That was a very hard shot. A very difficult shot he hit,” Coleman said. “So credit to him.”

The Aggies then rushed down the court for a last-second shot. Tyrece Radford’s runner from about 15 feet rattled in and out at the buzzer.

That last misfire brought an end to an improbable rally in which the Aggies recovered from an eight-game midseason losing streak to win 12 of their final 14 games.

“In my 28 years as a college coach, I’ve never experienced anything like what has transpired within our team over the last six weeks,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “The belief, the work, the trust, the love, player-to-player, coach-to-coach, player-to-coach, coach-to-player has scarred my heart in a way I’ll never forget.

“Over the last six weeks, I believe it’s changed our program forever.”

The Aggies made a habit of wearing down and blowing out opponents in previous double-digit NIT victories over Alcorn State, Oregon, Wake Forest and Washington State.

They appeared on the way to doing it again. They trailed 15-6 early but shot 66.7 percent over the final 12 minutes of the first half to take a 40-32 halftime lead.

Much of A&M’s success was dependent on Quenton Jackson, who finished off a brilliant senior season with a game-high 23 points. Most of those came on strong drives to the basket where he either finished layups or drew fouls.

Jackson converted 12-of-14 shots from the free-throw line.

“I just tried to put pressure on the rim as much as I can because I know that not only will it help my team, but it will open up lanes and shots for my team,” Jackson said. “I just tried to drive. I just try to keep my head down and just tried to stay aggressive.”

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

In his final collegiate game, Quenton Jackson scored a game-high 23 points.

The Aggies also got 15 points from Radford, 12 from Hassan Diarra and seven points and nine rebounds from Coleman.

Three Musketeers provided most of Xavier’s scoring. Guard Colby Jones had 21, guard Dwon Odom 18 and Nunge 15.

A&M led by as much as nine early in the second half. The Aggies maintained a 45-38 lead when Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 16:54 to play.

He then went to the bench with his third foul for almost five minutes.

In his absence, Xavier pulled within 52-51. The Musketeers then took a 53-52 lead on an Odom pull-up jumper with 11:28 to play.

“We need him on the floor, and I knew that it was going to be a one-ish, two-ish possession game, and I knew we needed to try to buy as much time as we could to try to get him back so that he could finish the game,” Williams said of Jackson.

“He picked up foul two and foul three within whatever that was — a two-and-a-half-minute, three-minute stretch,” Williams added. “So I wanted to try to see if we could get three more, four minutes before we put him back in. I anticipated it was going to be the type of game that it ended up being.”

The lead changed 14 times over the final 11-and-a-half minutes.

A&M took its final lead on a pair of Jackson free throws with 26.8 seconds left.

Xavier missed two shots on the ensuing possession. The second was slapped out of bounds by Ethan Henderson with 5.9 seconds to play.

That gave Xavier one more chance.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

After begin left out of the NCAA Tournament field, Buzz Williams’ Aggies showed the nation they truly belonged.

In bounding from the baseline, Jones hit Nunge with a bounce pass on the low block. Nunge took one dribble into the paint and got off the shot between Coleman and Jackson.

“Colby looked at me and said he was going to throw me the ball,” Nunge said. “I was fortunate enough to knock it down.”

Radford wasn’t as fortunate.

He took the in-bounds pass from Diarra, bolted down the court and launched his final shot from just inside the three-point arc. It was close but bounced out of the cylinder.

“They executed the play perfectly,” Williams said. “Q is the first choice with the hammer screen by Boots (Radford). If they switch that, we are throwing it straight to Boots and here we go. Our guys are comfortable with that play and the execution of that play. I thought we did a really good job.”

Just as they have since starting their surge 14 games ago.