National Basketball Association
North Texas 61, Texas A&M 41
When: 5:30 PM ET, Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Where: Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Officials:
# Tony Greene, # Rick Hartzell, # Lamar Smith
Attendance:
4564
By SportsDirect Inc.
North Texas 61, Texas A&M 41: Maurice Aniefiok nailed four 3-pointers and scored 16 points as the visiting Mean Green knocked off the struggling Aggies.
Aniefiok was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and grabbed six rebounds for the Mean Green (8-5), who snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. Alzee Williams had 14 points and Jordan Williams provided six points and six rebounds.
Alex Caruso scored 10 points and Fabyon Harris had nine points for the Aggies (8-4), who have lost four of six games since a 6-0 start. Kourtney Roberson entered the game averaging 12.8 points, but was held to two points on 1-of-4 shooting.
The Aggies started strongly, leading 10-4 behind a pair of 3-pointers by Caruso, but it was all North Texas the rest of the way. A 16-3 run put the Mean Green up 20-13 with 8:23 left and Jordan Williams followed three 3-pointers by Aniefiok with one of his own to cap a 16-2 run to end the half.
Texas A&M showed some fight during the first nine minutes of the second half, using an 11-3 run to get to within 10 points at 43-33, but couldn't get any closer. Jordan Williams and Alzee Williams each made a jumper and Aniefiok canned a trey to push the lead back to 17 for the Mean Green, who forced 17 turnovers.
GAME NOTEBOOK: After starting 3-of-3, the Aggies made just 4-of-20 shots to close the first half. ... The Mean Green were 15-of-26, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, in building a 36-19 halftime lead. ... North Texas had a season-high 13 steals, but made just 6-of-14 free throws, well below its season average of 18.8-of-28.1.
Top Game Performances
North Texas |
|
Texas A&M |
Maurice Aniefiok 16 |
Scoring |
Alex Caruso 10 |
Chris Jones 4 |
Assists |
Alex Caruso 2 |
Maurice Aniefiok 6 |
Rebounds |
Kourtney Roberson 6 |
Alzee Williams 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Alex Caruso 2 |
Colin Voss 3 |
Steals |
Jamal Jones 2 |
Maurice Aniefiok 2 |
Blocks |
Alex Caruso 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
North Texas
|
61 |
51.0 |
5-14 |
6-14 |
16 |
29 |
2 |
13 |
14 |
Texas A&M
|
41 |
30.0 |
4-18 |
7-15 |
7 |
24 |
3 |
5 |
17 |