August 16, 1998
Despite a 29-point, 10-rebound effort from senior forward Shanne Jones, Texas A&M opened its five-game European tour Sunday with a 83-79 loss to the Weert Basketball Club.
"I saw a lot of positive things that we can build on, but there are a lot of things that we need to get better at, A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. "I thought our execution was decent at times, and we did a good job of rebounding. The biggest thing is the kids played hard, and I was glad to see that."
A former Dutch champion, Weert took a 14 point lead, its biggest of the game, at 65-51 with 10:01 left in the game. A&M trimmed the lead to 74-71 on a three-pointer by senior Chris Clayton with 2:40 remaining. Weert answered with a field goal by Ralph Biggs and a pair of free throws by Germaine Young for a 78-71 advantage with 1:42 left. Biggs and Young are both Americans. Biggs played college basketball at Towson State, and Young played at Niagra.
Clayton added two more treys in the final minute, but the Aggies could pull no closer than the final margin.
"We got a little bit tired late in the game," Watkins said. "That was natural with our travel situation, and we knew coming in that we were not in the best of shape. I'm not too concerned about that. I am concerned that we only have seven players right now and are not able to get a good rotation. Some of the guys are playing a lot more minutes than they will normally."
Clayton finished with 22 points and made 6-of-10 three-pointers, while sophomore Aaron Jack added 14 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
"The rims here are thicker than normal and it took me awhile to get used to the basket," Clayton said. "I missed a couple of open looks early, but it didn't affect my confidence. I knew if I was patient, they would start falling and they did."
"Clayton gave us a big hand offensively and defensively," Watkins added. "Shanne can be a force down low, and he was today. They had a difficult time stopping him. I also thought Aaron Jack did a good job on the boards."
Biggs led Weert with 24 points, and Young scored 19.
The Aggies trailed 40-32 at halftime after making just 3-of-13 from the free-throw line. For the game, the Aggies made 45.8 percent (11-of-24) from the line and 48.4 percent (31-of-64) from the field.
The Aggies are back in action Monday when they meet the Amsterdam "Ricoh" Astronauts at 6 p.m. (11 a.m. CDT) in Amsterdam. The Ricoh Astronauts are the preseason favorite to win the Dutch championship.
"We will watch the tape tonight and take a closer look at the areas we are concerned about," Watkins said. "It will be good for us to have to go back out and play another game on Monday. The biggest problem is we don't know enough about these teams to really prepare properly. But by the same token, they don't know much about us either."
TEXAS A&M (79)
Clayton 8-14 0-0 22, Schmidt 1-8 2-2 4, Jack 7-11 0-0 14,
Jones 2-20 5-13 29, T. Brown 1-1 2-5 4, Richards 1-3 0- 0
2, J. Brown 1-7, 2-4 4. Team Totals 31-64 11-24 79.
WEERT (83)
(Scoring only) Duijvelshoff 7, Schepers 3, Gresel 5,
Somefun 4, Frederiks 3, Biggs 24, Young 19, Raedts 7,
Ackerman 11, Sendar 0. Team Totals (20-27 FT) 83.
Halftime score - Weerdt 40 A&M 32. Rebounds - A&M 39 (Jack
12, Jones 10). Assists - A&M 18 (T.Brown 7). Turnovers -
A&M 15 (Schmidt 6). Blocks - A&M 2 (Jones 2). Steals- A&M 8
(J.Brown 3).