Texas A&M
GRAMBLING STATE
Texas A&M 101, Grambling 71
Dec 10, 2005 | Men's Basketball
December 10, 2005
Josh Carter scored 20 points and Martellus Bennett added another 18 to help lead Texas A&M to a 101-71 victory over Grambling State Saturday afternoon.
A&M earned the win without the help of its two top scorers, Joseph Jones and Acie Law. Jones left early in the first half with an apparent ankle injury, while Law left the game early in the second half after taking an elbow to the head and hitting the floor hard.
Grambling State (2-3) used a strong full-court press early in the first half to jump out to a quick 9-7 lead over A&M.
It didn't take A&M (6-0) long to adjust however, going on a 16-4 run, while the Grambling State offense went on a seven minute drought without a field goal.
Grambling State's offense sparked before the half, led by Brion Rush, to pull the team within 10 points of A&M. Rush finished the night with 28 points and four rebounds.
Grambling State kept pace with A&M in the second half, but was never able to come any closer than nine points to A&M's lead, which came midway through the second half on four consecutive three-pointers by Grambling State's Andre Ratliff.
Ratliff finished the night with 19 points, including going 5-8 from three-point range.
Texas A&M vs. Grambling State
Reed Arena - December 10, 2005
Postgame Quotes
Texas A&M senior Eddie Smith:
"We were fortunate to play so well without Joseph Jones in the line up. He is a big part of our game and without him you really have to play a lot better. Our team did a great job of playing hard and we had to band tighter as a team tonight. Martellus (Bennett) brings a lot of energy to our team. He does all the things you saw tonight everyday in practice, so as teammates we were not suprised to see him play this well. He is a nimble player, it is amazing he is that big and still that soft on his feet."
Texas A&M freshman Josh Carter:
"It felt good to have some shots fall. I had been struggling lately so it was nice to shoot the ball well. It is hard to come off of the bench, but it might have helped for me to watch the flow of the game and find where I could be successful before getting on the court. I had a good offensive game, but I made too many mistakes on defense and that is where I need to improve my game."
Texas A&M head coach Billy Gillispie:
"This was a good win for us. We had to make do without of a lot of things today. I would not have thought we would have been able to score 100 with Joseph (Jones) playing only one minute and Acie (Law) playing eight minutes. Martellus Bennett was great tonight. He goes after the ball like we all should. I like guys that are aggressive, he was able to give us a spark and he is going to be a big part of what we do this year as a team. Josh Carter shot the ball well tonight. He is going to have to make shots for us to be successfull. We were wable to move the ball better than we had in the past and that really opens up shots for Josh. Josh makes a lot of open shots."
A&M NOTES:
*Josh Carter scored a career-high 20 points, making 7-of-7 from the field and 5-of-5 from three-point range. Carter set a school record for three-point percentage in a game, breaking the old mark of .875) (7-of-8) set by Lynn Suber against Connecticut in 1989-90 and Antoine Wright against Texas Tech last season.
*Martellus Bennett scored a career-high 18 points
*Returning All-Big 12 players Joseph Jones and Acie Law combined for just nine minutes because of injuries. As a result, A&M's top four scorers were all first-year players (Carter 20, Bennett 18, Eddie Smith 14, Antanas Kavaliauskas 12). Law scored eight points in eight minutes, the first time this season he's failed to reach double figures.
*A&M scored 101 points, its first 100-point game since it beat Grambling, 103-101, in double overtime two seasons ago.
*A&M made a season-high .620 from the field.
*The Aggies made 11-of-17 three-pointers (.647), tying for the best in school history in a game in which they had at least 10 attempts. A&M also made 11-of-17 against Connecticut in 1989-90. The 11 three-pointers tied for the ninth most in school history and were the second most this season. A&M made 13 in the opener against Southern.
*A&M's 17 fouls were a season low.
*A&M is 6-0 for only the second time since it started 7-0 in 1980-81. A&M started last season with an 11-0 mark.
*A&M has won 19 straight regular-season non-conference games.
*A&M is 23-3 at home the last two seasons.
*A&M is 27-10 in two seasons under Billy Gillispie, who is 51-18 in his last three seasons as a head coach.
