Aggies Top St. Edwards 87-69 in Exhibition Match-Up

Friday, November 4

College Station

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

St. Edward's

Texas A&M

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Nov 04, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score A&M 87, St. Edward's 69 (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In their final tune-up before the opening of the regular season, the Aggie men's basketball team defeated St. Edward's 87-69 during exhibition action inside Reed Arena.

"Obviously, it was the first game for a young team trying to find its identity," said Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy.

Texas A&M featured four players in double-digit scoring led by sophomore Admon Gilder's 22 points. The Dallas native was efficient on the offensive end, converting 8-of-10 field goal attempts while pulling down six rebounds and chipping in three assists as well as a block.

Rookie forward Robert Williams turned heads as the Vivian, La., product scored 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while grabbing nine boards and blocking six shots. Joining Roberts on the inside, junior center Tonny Trocha-Morelos contributed 17 points and eight rebounds while senior Tavario Miller added 12 points.

"I thought we played better in the second half," Kennedy added. "We played a little more aggressive. You can see that we've got some young talent that can help us. Tavario was really good for us the second half too."

Overall, the Aggies owned a 48-8 advantage for points in the paint while the scrappy Hilltoppers stayed within striking distance by knocking down 12 3-point baskets.

St. Edward's was led in scoring by Ramir Burton with 15 points.

Texas A&M will officially christen the 2016-17 season next Friday, Nov. 11, when Texas A&M welcomes Northwestern State to Reed Arena for an 8 p.m. contest. The game will be nationally televised by SEC Network with Richard Cross and Sean Farnham on the call from Aggieland.

Texas A&M Basketball Press Conference Selected Quotes
Head Coach Billy Kennedy
"Obviously, it was the first game for a young team trying to find its identity. Not having Tyler [Davis], he sprained his ankle yesterday, wasn't anything major but we decided not to play him in this game and DJ [Hogg] I made a decision not to play him a while back over something that I just made a decision that I wasn't pleased with but I thought we were young, obviously. I thought we didn't play as hard as I would've liked but the team chasing those little guys around and the way they shot the ball and ran offense [made it difficult]. They scored at the end of the shot clock a bunch, so you got to give them credit. I thought we played better in the second half. We played a little more aggressive. You can see that we've got some young talent that can help us but Tavario [Miller] was really good for us the second half too."

On how to help the guards get the ball to the post…
"Well, our post guys turned it over. You know you look at it, we had nine turnovers from our post guys and that's been our problem. I think not having Tyler [Davis] was part of it and I thought we had some lazy passes, that's something we can't do. To have 15 turnovers is not acceptable, the pace of the game that we're going to have to play. We only forced ten turnovers and there's a lot of things that we didn't do today that we'll do that are better for our team. We were working on some things defensively, our man to man defense which needs a lot of work."

On his overall thoughts and where the team is…
"I wish I could tell you I knew. Not having Tyler [Davis], not having DJ [Hogg], two of our better players, it's hard to tell. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. We've got a tough schedule and our young guys have to grow up and we've got to play with more energy. I thought we had some time on the clock that we didn't play hard enough. We've got to be more physical and be more assertive."