March 03, 2007
Antanas Kavaliauskas scored a career-high 26 points to lead No. 7 Texas A&M to a 94-78 win over Missouri on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Texas A&M (25-5, 13-3) clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's Big 12 tournament with the win.
It was a special day for Kavaliauskas, whose performance came in front of his mother Birute Kavaliauskiene, who traveled from Lithuania to watch him play college basketball for the first time.
Kavaliauskas scored nine of the Aggies first 12 points in the second half to erase a two-point deficit and give A&M a 54-46 lead with 13:54 remaining. He capped that spurt when he was fouled making a nifty reverse layup and then sunk the free throw.
His mother beamed as she watched the play from her fourth-row seat. The big man also made A&M's first seven points of the game.
After the early second half scoring burst, the Aggies went on a 15-4 run to stretch their lead to 67-50 midway through the half and Missouri didn't threaten again.
Missouri (18-11, 7-9) was led by Stefhon Hannah who had 17 points. Keon Lawrence and Marshall Brown added 13 apiece.
Acie Law and Josh Carter added 20 points each for Texas A&M.
The Aggies' six seniors were honored on Saturday before their last regular season home game. It was an emotional ceremony, in which Law and his father, also named Acie, wept throughout.
Kavaliauskas and his mother, who have only seen each other a couple of times since he moved to the United States to play basketball four years ago, held hands when he was honored.
She wore a corsage with a yellow rose and happily snapped pictures of her son throughout the game.
He scored his last points on a monster two-handed dunk with less than two minutes remaining, sending the crowd into a frenzy and causing his mother to clutch her chest and break into a huge smile.
Both he and Law left late in the game to standing ovations from the record crowd of 13,203 and fans chanted "Acie, Acie" when he sat down.
Texas A&M led by as many as nine points in the first half, but with Law, Joseph Jones and Dominique Kirk all on the bench in foul trouble, the Tigers overcame the deficit to take a 32-31 lead about five minutes before halftime. The lead changed several times after that and Hannah made a layup at the buzzer to tie it at 42-42 at the break.
Postgame Quotes & Notes
Missouri Head Coach Mike Anderson: "First of all, I tip my hat off and congratulate Texas A&M for a very good year. Billy (Gillispie) has done a very good job with this basketball team. I tell you what, Acie Law is a dynamite player and he showed why he's one of those top players in the country, especially in the second half. For the most part, when you go on the road you just want to hang around. For the first half, we did. I thought we did a good job of settling down after an emotional start by Texas A&M. But, they are a good basketball team. We're a team that will hopefully continue to improve. We did a good job of getting them into foul trouble so they had to use some people they don't normally use. It's part of the depth factor. That's what we wanted to do, get them into their bench. They have some other guys that are pretty good basketball players."
Texas A&M Senior Logan Lee: "I don't know what to say. This was our last game here and I'm speechless."
Texas A&M Senior Marlon Pompey: "We played okay out there. We wanted to win the last time all of us would be on that court, the last time we'd see all of the fans. We made a good run and we did the best we could. The season isn't over. We're still pusing towards a Big 12 Tournament championship and a national championship. I'm happy for the win. It was great to win our last game here, but it's not over."
Texas A&M Senior Acie Law: "I'm kind of like Logan with mixed emotions. I'm glad for the victory and the season that we had so far. To go from 0-16 to 25-5 is a great feeling. It just shows what hard work can do for us. As far as my teammates, I love them all. I've learned so much from them and coach. They've just been great guys to be around and those are relationships that I will always cherish for the rest of my life. The numbers prove it. We put in a lot of hard work as a group. At the time coach told me we would be a good team (3 years ago), I didn't really believe it. I thought he was a winner, but I dind't think I'd get to be a part of the team that got to compete for a Final Four and a National Championship. For it to happen so quickly and all of the hard work that we put in and for us to be in this situation now, it's just been great. It's a great feeling. I didn't think it was like a sales pitch. Coach Gillispie carries himself, and the way that he speaks, you get the felling that he really believes what he says. It's not like he's just trying to fill your head up with those things. He looks you in the eye and tells you, 'This is what we're going to do,' and it's going to get done. I wanted to pe a part of it and I'm glad that he's done what he's done for me taking me under his wing. He's made me into the person I am today and I'm very greatful that I got the opportunity to play for him. It was tough for me. Just knowing that this is the last time that I'll be able to put this uniform on and play in front of, basically, my family. These are people that have supported us and been behind us 100%. To come out, perform, and get the victory is a great feeling. Our goal was to in the conference. We fell a little short, but we have nothing to hold our heads down about because we competed each and every time we stepped out on the floor. We've done a lot. I feel great and I can hold my head up about everything I've done."
Texas A&M Senior Antanas Kavaliauskas: "I don't want to leave. Today in the first half, we didn't play well. We gave up a lot of points in the first half. They shot too many layups. In the second half we picked it up and played better. It's emotional. I don't know what to say. It feels good. Coach was getting on to me at halftime telling me to get a block. I guess I wasn't jumping high enough. It was a great game and my mom being here made it even more special. It's been emotional. She's never seen a game like that, or at least that's what she told me. I think what she meant to say was that she'd never seen an atmosphere like that. We dont' have that in Lithuania."
Texas A&M Senior Josh Johnston: "It's a storybook ending for me, the years that I've spent with Coach Gillispie, and there's more to be written. It's hard to explain how you feel because on one hand, you're sad that because you know that this will be the last time you'll be in this arena with this group of guys. But at the same time, It's such a good feeling to get the win. We won 13 out of our 16 conference games. We've done a lot of great things this year and we've had a couple of years together. It's pure joy to be around these guys. It's experiences like these that you'll never forget for the rest of your life. I'll still probably talk to these guys on a weekly basis. It's something special that is hard to explain or put into words."
Texas A&M Senior Brian Blackburn: "I just want to thank Coach Gillispie, the coaching staff that was here three years ago, the coaching staff that is here now and all of these guys for making me feel welcome. It's been great and we're not even close to being done. We're just starting. We have a new season that begins Monday. I want to give thanks to Coach Gillispie and all of my teammates for having faith in me and just letting me practice every day. It's been amazing and I never thought I'd be here."
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie: "It was a great game for us. It was a great win. It was really, really emotional time for all of us. No matter how much you try to not show your emotion outwardly, it's very difficulty for me. These guys have been so important to me personally. They've been so important to this community and this university. I don't know how you measure those kinds of things. It will probably continue to be looked at a very high esteem for a long time. It's our last home game. We're guaranteed to be in a postseason tournament. That's the first time I'm admitting it. We're going to get a chance to play twice more at least and hopefully we'll get a chance to play a few more games than that. Whatever happens, it's all gravy. There's a level of being able to believe. These guys have shown me how to believe at much greater level than I've ever been able to believe. Every time they won a game for the first few years, it was the first time they'd done it. They taught me a lot. I believe they can do anything. One of the greateset things about all of them is thaht they either have their degree right now, or by August, you're looking at six graduates. Not too many people can say that. That's really impressive at a fine university like this place. They make you believe at a different level. The new season starts Monday and we'll try to get better."
A&M NOTES:
*A&M finishes the regular season at 25-5, the most regular-season wins in school history and the second most wins overall (26-8 in 1979-80)
*A&M finishes 13-3 in the Big 12, its most Big 12 wins and its most in conference play since the 1980 team went 14-2 in the SWC.
*A&M finishes second in the Big 12, its best in the league's 11 year history. The last time A&M finished that high in conference play was when it tied for second in the SWC in 1994.
*A&M will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City. The Aggies will play the winner of Thursday's No. 7 vs. No. 10 game on Friday at 6 p.m.
*A&M finishes 18-1 at home, a school record for home victories (17 in 2004-05).
*Today's crowd of 13,302 was a school record, eclipsing the old mark of 13,196 set against Texas on Feb. 5.
*A&M had six sellouts this season, third most in the Big 12.
*Josh Carter scored 20 points with 9 rebounds and made 3-of-6 three-pointers, giving him a school record 80 on the season. The old mark was 79 by Bernard King in 1999-00.
*Antanas Kavaliauskas scored a career-high 26 points, making 11-of-12 field goal attempts (.917), the second best shooting percentage in school history. The record is 13-of-13 by the late Vernon Smith against Alaska-Anchorage in 1978-79.
*Acie Law IV scored 20 points and finished with a 20.8 average in conference play this season, a school record for Big 12 games. The last time an A&M player averaged more in conference was Joe Wilbert in 1994-95 (24.3 in the SWC). Law moves into third on A&M's career scoring chart with 1,600 points and is tied for third in career assists with 535 (Dave Goff in 1976-80).
*A&M scored 1,214 points in conference play (75.3), a school record for Big 12 action and the third most overall. It is the most points scored in league play by the Aggies since the 19990 team scored a school record 1,302 points.
*A&M scored a season-high 60 points in the paint and added a season-best 18 fast-break points.