Texas A&M holds on, escapes from Crimson Tide on Senior Day, 68-66

Occasionally, time seems to stands still.

The final minute of Texas A&M’s 68-66 Southeastern Conference basketball victory over Alabama on Saturday was one of those occasions.

Bad fouls, worse officiating, one of about a half-dozen video reviews and an ejection caused the bizarre final minute to consume approximately 20 minutes.

But it was well worth the wait for the Aggies (20-11,9-9), who removed remaining doubt — if there was any — that they will be in the NCAA Tournament field.

Admon Gilder and D.J. Hogg combined to convert 5 of 6 free throws in the final 32 seconds and the Aggies had to wait out a pivotal — yet obvious — call reversal to avenge an earlier 79-57 loss to Alabama (17-14, 8-10), which suffered its fifth consecutive defeat.

That was quite a reversal of fortune for the Aggies, who hit just three of 10 free throws in the first half.

“We went into the locker room (at halftime) and I kind of laughed with our guys. I said, ‘Guys, do you have anything to tell me?’” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “'What’s going on? We can’t make a free throw, we’re not playing well and we’re only down one (25-24).' It was almost comical.”

The Aggies got the last laugh as Tyler Davis posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Gilder and D.J. Hogg, who did not play in the first game at Alabama, had 14 and 11 points respectively.

Star freshman guard Collin Sexton led Alabama with 23 points and post Donta Hall had 12. Guard John Petty, who had 18 points and five three-pointers in the first game, managed just seven points and one trey.

But that three-pointer brought Alabama within 63-59 with 38.7 seconds left. That’s when a bizarre game, which featured frequent stoppages in play, got even stranger.

Following an Alabama timeout, Gilder was quickly fouled. Before he could get to the free throw line, Sexton and A&M’s T.J. Starks got into a verbal exchange, which drew a double technical foul. Starks was also ejected for shoving Sexton.

“We told T.J. all week that Collin Sexton is very aggressive and he’s a very good player but has a tendency to talk,” Kennedy said. “T.J. is not a whole lot different. We talked to him all week about having some poise. We can’t handle things that way. It’s unacceptable and showed a lack of maturity on our part on a couple of plays that we had to be smarter at.”

That gave Gilder four free throws. He made the first three. Then, Sexton made two free throws for Starks’ technical.

Alabama retained possession and on the ensuing play resulted in Braxton Key fouled attempting a three-pointer. Key made the first two free throws to draw Alabama within 66-63.

But he missed the third try to start another chaotic chain of events.

Hall got the rebound and passed to Key, who missed a three-point try from the corner. The rebound bounced out high to Sexton. He drove down the lane, but when harassed by Gilder and confronted by Davis lost the basketball out of bounds.

Though it seemed obvious Sexton committed a turnover, the officials called the ball out on A&M with about five seconds left. An extensive review confirmed that neither Gilder or Davis touched the basketball.

Hogg was fouled on the in-bounds play and converted the win-clinching free throws.

Key then hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to account for the final score.

The Aggies appeared to be in control much earlier when a Jay Jay Chandler layup ended a 13-2 run and provided a 47-36 lead with 10:21 remaining.

Then, Alabama’s Alex Reese was called for traveling on a drive. But he continued to attack the basket and collided with Davis on the baseline. After a long video review Davis was given a technical foul, which seemed to jump-start the Crimson Tide.

Alabama dominated the next five minutes and took a 53-52 lead on a Hall free throw with 4:23 left.

But Davis hit a jumper, Hogg followed with a three-pointer from the corner and Davis pump-faked his way for a dunk. He also hit a short jumper off an assist from Hogg in a 9-1 run that put A&M in control a 62-54 lead.

Well, that is until the final minute.