Texas A&M
4-0
UNC WIlmington
2-3
Texas A&M Tops NC Wilmington, 84-65
Nov 25, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Chinemelu Elonu scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds to help lead Texas A&M to an 84-65 victory over North Carolina-Wilmington on Tuesday night in the second round of the South Padre Invitational.
The Aggies (4-0) held the Seahawks (2-3) 27 points below their season scoring average of 92 points per game in the teams' first-ever meeting.
Elonu's 18 points came on 8-of-9 shooting. B.J. Holmes and Derrick Roland added 13 points each. Nathan Walkup had 12 rebounds.
Josh Carter set a school record for career 3-pointers in the first half with 233, breaking Bernard King's record of 232 from 1999-2003.
Chad Tomko scored a game-high 21 points for North Carolina-Wilmington.
POSTGAME QUOTES & NOTES
UNC WILMINGTON HEAD COACH BENNY MOSS: "I want to give credit to A&M. They really wore us down throughout the game. Our guys did some stuff better then they have been, but we gave up too many points in the paint. Our effort is fine but our guys have to learn that playing hard is not enough. We need to start playing smart. We need to get better on defense. We didn't put up enough of a fight to beat a team this good."
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon: "They controlled the pace of the game. This was a little different of a style than they have been playing. I would not say that we played well. One thing I was pleased about is that we were not selfish. We played 10 to 12 minutes in the second half of good defense. They played really small. Junior (Elonu) was able to rebound well and played very good on defense. We started playing well as the game went on but they scored on us a lot at the end of the game."
TEXAS A&M FORWARD Chinemelu Elonu: "Coach told me I needed confidence to try and score as much I could. I worked hard to be a starter on this team and I don't want that taken away. Playing that up and down style is a little bit fun. I want to get 15 rebounds a game for the rest of the season. Rebounding is how I got to this level and I need to get back to that."
TEXAS A&M GUARD B.J. Holmes: "It feels good to make a few shots in a row in a game. I do it all the time in practice, but until tonight, I haven't found them in a game. Coach told us to come out and play hard and take shots. I think we did a good job of shutting them down."
A&M Notes: *Junior forward Chinemelu Elonu posted his first career double-double, scoring a career-high 18 points with a career best 11 rebounds. He also tied his career high with 3 blocks aqnd made 8-of-9 from the field.
*Sophomore guard B.J. Holmes scored a career-high 13 points with a career-best 3 assists. He also made a career-best 4-of-6 from three-point range. Coming into the game, Holmes was 1-of-9 on three-pointers this season.
*Sophomore forward Nathan Walkup just missed his first double-double, scoring 9 points with a career-high 12 rebounds. He had 11 boards against Stephen F. Austin on Nov. 18.
*Junior guard Derrick Roland scored a season-high 13 points, just two points hy of his career-best (15 vs. Ohio State last season). Roland matched his career high for three-pointers, making 3-of-6.
*Junior guard Josh Carter matched his season-best with 4 assists.
*Freshman forward David Loubeau matched his career-high with 6 rebounds and added 6 points.
*Freshman guard Dash Harris handed out a career-high 4 assists.
*A&M made a season-best 55.9 percent from the field and posted a season-high +20 (47-27) rebounding margin.
*UNCW made just 35.8 percent from the field, the third time in four games the Aggies' opponent has made less than 40 percent. The exception was Jackson State, which made 40.6 percent.
*In the last two games, A&M has averaged 90.0 points and made 51.6 percent from the field.
*The Aggies had a season-high 21 assists but also had a season-high 16 turnovers.
*A&M has won 50 straight regular-season home games since an 82-80 loss to A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003.
*Mark Turgeon is 29-11 at A&M, the best coaching start in Big 12 history.
