Texas A&M
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA
Gardener Lifts A&M Past Southeastern Louisiana, 55-54
Dec 05, 2001 | Men's Basketball
December 05, 2001
Michael Gardener hit a pair of free throws with less than three seconds left Wednesday night to give Texas A&M a 55-54 come-from-behind victory over Southeastern Louisiana.
Gardener's first free throw with 2.6 seconds left tied the game at 54-54. After a Southeastern Louisiana timeout, he hit the second.
A last second, wide open shot from 15 feet out by Southeastern Louisiana's Derrick Franklin rimmed out of the basket as time expired.
Nine of Gardener's 13 points came at the line.
Texas A&M (5-1) shot 39 percent from the field against the Lions.
Amir Abdur-Rahim led Southeastern Louisiana (1-3) with 20 points and six rebounds.
A&M took the early lead, but Abdur-Rahim's 13 first-half points gave Southeastern Louisiana a 27-26 halftime lead.
Southeastern Louisiana made it a nine-point lead as the Aggies couldn't score from the field in the first seven minutes of the second half. A Nick Anderson layup with 12:47 left in the game marked the first field goal of the half for the Aggies and closed the Lions' lead to six.
Three minutes later, Gardener scored six straight points for the Aggies to close the gap to three. A Jesse King 3-pointer from the baseline tied the game at 41. Abdur-Rahim answered with a 3-pointer, marking his first points of the half and stopping a 7-point A&M run.
