Second-half surge falls just short as Aggies edged out by TCU in Houston, 68-64
If it was only rust the Aggies had to shake off from an 11-day basketball layoff, they might have overcome TCU on Saturday night.
But there was too much corrosion for the Aggies (7-2) to avoid a 68-64 loss to the Horned Frogs (8-1) at Toyota Center.
Too many turnovers (18). Too many missed free throws (8 of 18). Too many surrendered offensive rebounds (17). That all added up to an end of a three-game winning streak.
Guard Marcus Williams led the Aggies with 16 points. Quenton Jackson had 13 and Tyrece Radford had 10.
TCU was paced by Charles O’Bannon with 18 points and A&M transfer Emanuel Miller with 13.
The Aggies trailed 33-23 after an inept first-half showing but rallied to claim the lead midway through the second half. However, they could not make the key shots when it mattered most.
“I thought it was a tale of two halves,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “(TCU had) Thirty-three points in the first half and between free throws, offensive put-backs and points off turnovers, that was 30 of their 33.”
“And then for the game total 68 points, 17 offensive rebounds that they turn into 16 points, 18 turnovers that resulted in 15 points and then 17 points from the free-throw line. It’s just really bad math and hard to overcome.”
But the Aggies almost did.
Marcus Williams scored consecutive layups to ignite an 8-0 run early in the second half to put A&M back in contention.
“I thought our competitiveness was much better in the second half in regards to not turning it over, trying to defend without fouling and then only allowing them one shot,” Buzz Williams said.
The Aggies went on to reclaim the lead and held a 51-49 edge on Wade Taylor IV’s second-chance bucket with 6:45 to play.
At that point, it appeared A&M might duplicate a second-half surge in a 73-67 come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame in the third game of the Maui Invitational in Las Vegas last month.
Instead, TCU’s O’Bannon and Mike Myles hit back-to-back three-pointers and A&M never regained the lead.
“When we took the lead, I thought we had them,” Marcus Williams said. “I thought we were going to take over and just keep going from there. But basketball is a game of runs.”
A&M just couldn’t make that last run to clinch the victory, although the Aggies came close.
The Aggies trailed just 65-63 after Jackson nailed a trey from the right corner with 10.2 seconds left.
They could draw no closer. Their final hope ended with 4.5 seconds left. 
Trailing 66-63, Hassan Diarra was fouled. He missed the first free throw. Then, Diarra purposely tried to miss the second free throw in hopes of getting a rebound and a final three-point shot.
He made it. The Aggies couldn’t miss right.
It was that kind of day.