November 29, 1997
Texas A&M outmanned Bethune-Cookman, 97-53, Saturday night at G. Rollie White Coliseum, the Aggies' second straight 40+ margin of victory.
A&M (3-0) defeated Missouri-Kansas City, 102-61, on Monday. Saturday's 44-point victory ties for the fifth largest in A&M history.
The Wildcats (0-2) scored on a three-point field goal to pull within 35-21 with just under nine minutes left in the first half but were held scoreless for the next eight minutes as A&M went on a 18-0 run. Bethune-Cookman finally ended the scoring drought on a tip-in by Darricus Lockwood with :33 left in the half, trimming A&M's lead to 53-23 at intermission.
The Aggies started the second half with an 8-0 run and eventually led by as many as 54 points at 96-42 with 3:18 left in the game. A&M scored its final point on a free throw by walk-on freshman Bright Ogbogu with 2:34 left. Until that point, A&M was threatening the school record for the largest margin of victory, a 51-point win against Wayland Baptist in 1975 (115-64).
Junior forward Shanne Jones led all scorers with 17 points while junior forward Calvin Davis added 16. Senior center Larry Thompson and sophomore guard Jerald Brown each scored 11 points, with Thompson tying a career-high with 12 rebounds and Brown setting a career-best with six steals.
Junior center Chris Richards contributed 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Richards has made 11 straight shots going back to the UMKC game on Monday, when he tallied 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting. All 12 players on the Aggies' roster played in the game.
Johnny McClenton was the only Bethune-Cookman player ro score in double figures, finishing with 13 points.
The Aggies connected on 52.2 percent from the field to only 31.6 percent by the Wildcats. A&M also posted a 50-34 rebounding edge. The A&M press forced 28 Wildcat turnovers and tied a school record with 21 steals. The record was set on three previous occasions, the last being in 1995 against Maryland-Baltimore County.
The Aggies' 3-0 start matches their start last season. A win against Southern on Monday (7 p.m. at GRW) would make A&M 4-0 for the first time since 1981.