Texas A&M
21-11
Montana
20-13
Men's Basketball Powers Past Montana in NIT First Round
Mar 17, 2015 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Jalen Jones scored 25 points and Texas A&M weathered a second-half push by Montana and ran away with an 81-64 victory in the opening round of the NIT on Tuesday.
The Aggies (21-11) led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but went into the break up just 38-35. Jones and Jordan Green combined on a 14-5 A&M run midway through the second half that allowed the Aggies pull away.
Green added 15 points for A&M, Alex Robinson had 15 points with eight assists and Peyton Allen added 12 points. A&M shot 58 percent from the field and scored 44 of its points in the paint.
Jordan Gregory led Montana (20-13) with 20 points and seven rebounds.
A&M will host Louisiana Tech in the second round of the NIT.
TEAM RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
● Texas A&M improved to 21-11 on the year, while Montana saw its season come to an end at 20-13.
● The Aggies are now 7-6 all-time in NIT play and 3-1 all-time in NIT games in College Station (2-1 inside Reed Arena, 1-0 at G. Rollie White Coliseum).
● The victory was the Aggies' 21st of the season … A&M has won at least 21 games in eight of the last 11 years … it marks the 11th time in school history an Aggie team has amassed 21 victories.
● Tuesday's game was the first ever between the schools.
TEAM NOTES
● Texas A&M's 81 points were its second-highest output in 13 NIT games (82 vs Clemson, 2005 first round).
● A&M placed four in double figures for the 10th time this year (Jalen Jones 25, Jordan Green 15, Alex Robinson 15, Peyton Allen 12).
● A&M found itself down 48-46 with just over 13 minutes to play in the game … the Aggies then went on a 22-3 run over the next eight minutes and 19 seconds to put the game away.
● The win pushed the Aggies into the second round of the NIT … A&M has now won at least one game in eight of its last nine trips to postseason play.
● A&M has now advanced to (at least) the second round of the NIT 4 times in 7 trips (1979, 1982, 2005, 2015).
● The Aggies used the starting lineup combination of Alex Caruso, Jordan Green, Peyton Allen, Jalen Jones and Kourtney Roberson for the seventh time this season (5-2).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
● Freshman guard Alex Robinson scored a career-high 15 points … the Arlington, Texas, native made 5-of-9 field goal attempts while notching a game-high eight assists with only one turnover in 25 minutes of action.
● Junior forward Jalen Jones converted 10-of-14 field goal attempts to finish with a game-high 25 points … it stood out as the third game of 20 or more points for the Dallas native this season.
● Senior guard Jordan Green scored all nine points for the Aggies during a stretch of two minutes and four seconds during the second half during which the Aggies rallied from a two-point deficit to retake the lead for good … The Flower Mound, Texas, product finished with 15 points on the night.
● A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 71-60 in his fourth season at Texas A&M and 282-239 in 17 years as a head coach.
UP NEXT
● Texas A&M advances to the second round of the NIT where the Aggies will host Louisiana Tech at Reed Arena … date and time for the match-up has not been determined.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening Statement…
“I thought our guys came out from the beginning of the game and established ourselves inside. We got a lot of good plays from a lot of guys. Montana is a good team. They shot the ball really well, especially (Brandon) Gfeller. In the first half I thought he made some tough threes. You could tell they were a veteran team. They didn't really get too rattled. Fortunately, we were able to go into half with a lead. Our guys were ready in the second half. They made a couple of shots but we've seen that before. I thought we did a really good job of staying together and we got good help from our bench, Tonny Trocha-Morelos, Alex Robinson, Peyton Allen. Playing Jalen at the three for the first time was really good for us.
On what to tell the team during the Montana run…
“They are a good team. We got to push through, stay together, and don't panic. They are going to make some shots. Gregory is a very good player. I thought he came out in the beginning of the second half. He is a senior and an all-league guy. He made some shots. We settled down and had a lineup that we really hadn't played all year. Those guys settled us down and did some good things for us.”
On Jordan Green stepping up…
“He drove the ball, made good decisions, and hit a big three. I was really proud of him. He and Kourtney have been really good for us with their attitude and their energy every day. To have seniors want to play well this time of year shows good character by our team”
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR FORWARD JALEN JONES
On gaining momentum from the win against Montana...
“It feels great, especially after the week that we've had losing three straight and not making it into the NCAA tournament. We knew we wanted to come out here and redeem ourselves. We didn't get into the tournament that we wanted to, but we didn't let that get to us. We came out here. We fought. They fought. It was just a grind. This momentum right here is going to help us the rest of the tournament, so we're going to keep feeding off of this.”
TEXAS A&M SENIOR FORWARD JORDAN GREEN
On the game…
“Credit it to all my teammates. We all were resilient. A-Rob (Alex Robinson) stepped up big time. What he contributed most was defense. He kept my energy up on defense. As a leader of the team you have to do what you can do and we needed points at that point in the game. I'm just really proud of everyone you came in and contributed off the bench, Tonny (Trocha-Morelos), Tavario (Miller) and even Dylan (Johns) came in and gave us an important basket. I was really proud of everybody. We we're not going to let this one slip out of our hands.”
MONTANA HEAD COACH TRAVIS DECUIRE
Opening Statement
“I told my team before we even practiced yesterday that we were going to let the three ball fly tonight. We knew with the way [A&M] defends it was going to be hard getting stuff to the basket. We knew we were going to have to make some jump shots to win this game. We had a stretch where we fought back. Thirty five attempts, that was our game plan. We shot it decent, but we did not shoot as well as we know we could have. We had shots going in, but they just weren't going down. All due respect to this A&M team, they came ready to play, and they were a very difficult matchup for us size and length-wise. I'm very proud my team. It's a team that was not expected to get where we're at. For the team to go out and fight the way they did, I am very proud to be a Grizzly.”
On second half's zone defense rattling Montana's shooters...
“We've seen that zone earlier this year. We scored 90 points on it. We got the same shots tonight, we just didn't make it. Mike Weisner missed three straight threes in the corner, Brandon Gfeller missed three straightthrees and Jordan Gregory missed two. If we had made those shots, we would have had a lead going into the 8-minute media. It would have been a different ball game, but we just didn't make the shots.”
On words he shared with the team when down 18 points...
“Just keep believing. Just keep playing. We've been down before. We have a knack for starting slow, but tonight was little slower than usual. We knew our defense could get us back in the game, and it did. Unfortunately, our offense let us down a little bit.”
Team Stats
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