December 21, 1997
Texas A&M overcame the first-half ejection of head coach Tony Barone and went on to dominate Maryland-Eastern Shore, 105-60, Sunday afternoon at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Barone received back-to-back technical fouls, resulting in an automatic ejection, from official Curtis Shaw with 5:19 left in the first half and the Aggies leading, 36-21. Longtime assistant coach Porter Moser took over the team in Barone's absence.
"I apologized to the team in the locker room after the game," Barone said. "I told them before the game I wanted them to give 40 minutes, then I get tossed. That is an embarrassment. I have no comment on the officiating but I can tell you that I did not swear at the official. I was very concerned about positioning on calls. I might have deserved the first (technical) but I didn't deserve the second one. There is still no excuse for getting thrown out of the game."
The Fighting Hawks (2-5) trailed just 12-10 six minutes into the game, but a 20-5 run by the Aggies gave them a 32-15 lead with 6:23 left in the half. UMES never came closer than 11 points the rest of the half and the Aggies led, 50-33, at intermission.
The Aggies (6-3) continued their domination in the second half, leading by as many as 46 points late in the game. The 45-point margin of victory tied for the fourth largest in A&M history and was A&M's third 40-plus margin of victory this season. A&M's 105 points were the most scored by the Aggies since a 114-90 victory against Florida International in 1989-90 and were the most scored by the Aggies at home since a 106-89 victory against Texas in 1988-89.
Junior Chris Clayton paced the offensive explosion with a career-high 23 points and made 7-of-11 three-point field goals, tying for the second most in school history. Clayton's seven treys were the most ever by an Aggie at G. Rollie White Coliseum and tied the arena record shared by Alabama's Latrell Sprewell (1992), Texas B.J. Tyler (1994) and New Mexico's Ike Williams (1991).
Junior forward Calvin Davis also had a big day, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots in only 15 minutes of action. Junior forward Shanne Jones scored 15 points while senior center Larry Thompson posted his second straight double-double, scoring 11 points with 11 rebounds.
Freshman guard Michael Schmidt and sophomore guard Brian Barone each earned their first start. Schmidt scored six points and handed out a career-high nine assists while Barone scored four points with a season-high five rebounds. All 13 players on A&M's active roster played in the game with 10 players scoring points. Freshman forward Aaron Jack, a transfer from Penn State who became eligible prior to the Arizona State game on Friday, scored six points with a career-high 10 rebounds and five assists.
Elmer Harrison led UMES with 14 points while Joel Hoover and Cryhten Langhorne each finished with 12 points.
As a team, A&M connected on a season-high 59.4 percent from the field and 44.5 percent from three-point range (10-of-22). The Aggies handed out 31 assists, tying for the sixth most in school history, and pulled down a season-high 59 rebounds. A&M's 10 three-pointers tied for the fifth most in school history.
Defensively, the Aggies blocked 11 shots, tying the school record set against Michigan State in 1989-90, and limited the Fighting Hawks to just 22.4 percent field goal accuracy, the worst by an A&M opponent in modern history.
The Aggies are idle until Dec. 30, when they meet for the first time Washington State in Spokane, Wash. A win against the Cougars would hand A&M a 7-3 start for the first time since 1988-89. A&M opens Big 12 play at home on Jan. 3 against undefeated Oklahoma State (2 p.m.) at GRW.