Texas A&M rallies to beat Arizona State 72-71

By foxsports
Published

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) Alex Caruso scored a season-high 23 points as Texas A&M overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat Arizona State 72-71 on Saturday in Reed Arena.

A&M senior forward Kourtney Roberson made the second of two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining to lift the Aggies (6-1) to the one-point lead, and ASU's Tra Holder missed a hurried 3-pointer as time expired.

''Kourtney's been working on shooting free throws, and his hard work paid off,'' Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. ''Fortunately, he made a big one.''

Jordan Green and Jalen Jones each added 13 points for the Aggies, while Holder led the Sun Devils (5-3) with 14 points, and Jonathan Gilling and Bo Barnes followed with 12 each. Caruso also tallied six rebounds, six assists and six steals against the Sun Devils.

The game was tied at 69-69 when Caruso stole the ball near midcourt with 1:19 remaining, but he shoved the ball against the side of the rim on an attempted dunk on the ensuing fast break. Undaunted, Caruso then stole the ball again near midcourt on the Sun Devils' resulting possession, and this time tallied a layup to lift A&M to a 71-69 lead.

Caruso said he tried to hurry the dunk when he saw a defender rushing up behind him, but made sure and get it right the second time. The Sun Devils, who led 45-34 at halftime, scored their most points in the first half on the road since 46 at Oregon in 2010.

''For us the story lines are 17 turnovers, several of which led to easy baskets and conversions down on the other end,'' ASU coach Herb Sendek said.

Nearly midway through the second half, ASU had made 11 of 19 3-pointers and led 60-49. But the Sun Devils cooled considerably the rest of the way, and finished 12 of 29 from beyond the arc.

''Once we were down 11 of 12, we realized we could actually lose the game,'' Caruso said of the Aggies' frenetic comeback.

TIP-INS

The Aggies prevailed despite ASU holding a considerable advantage in rebounding (30-22), bench points (38-12) and shooting percentage (53.2 to 50.9). . Sendek insisted the Sun Devils didn't tire down the stretch, in going cold from long range.

''We just had some miscalculated turnovers, and you've got to give A&M credit, their defense really picked up in the second half,'' he said.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M plays at Baylor on Tuesday.

Arizona State plays host to Pepperdine on Dec. 13 (Saturday).