Last-Second Shot Lifts LSU Past Men's Basketball, 69-68

Saturday, January 6

College Station

1:15 p.m.

Texas A&M

11-4, 0-3SEC

LSU

10-4, 1-1SEC

LSU

Texas A&M

Photo by: Garrett Terry/Texas A&M Athletics

Jan 06, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box (PDF)

By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Tremont Waters scored 21 points, including an off-balance 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining, to lift LSU to a 69-68 win over No. 11 Texas A&M on Saturday.

The game was tied before the Aggies used an 8-3 run, capped by four points from Tyler Davis, to take a 68-63 lead. But Waters, who finished with five 3s, made a 3-pointer for LSU to get the Tigers (10-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) within three with 12 seconds left.

Davis missed two free throws on the other end before Waters launched his winner under heavy defensive pressure to give the Tigers the win.

Leading scorer D.J. Hogg returned for the Aggies (11-4, 0-3) after a suspension, but it wasn't enough to stop them from dropping their third straight after lopsided losses to Alabama and Florida.

Hogg was back after missing three games for an unspecified violation of team rules. But the Aggies still weren't at full strength with starters Admon Gilder and Duane Wilson out with knee injuries and Robert Williams, who is projected to be an NBA lottery pick, out with an illness.

Davis led the Aggies with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Hogg added 12 points with six rebounds.

A 7-2 spurt by LSU had the game tied with about four minutes left before Tonny Trocha-Morelos put the Aggies on top 60-57. But the lead was short-lived as Waters hit a 3 for the Tigers a few seconds later to tie it again.

LSU scored seven straight points, with a 3-pointer from Daryl Edwards, to take a 50-48 lead midway through the second half.

Hogg made his first 3-pointer of the game after that as the first of seven points in a row by the Aggies, which put them up 55-50 with about 7 1/2 minutes left.

The Aggies were up by 5 after a 3-point play by Hogg with about 15 minutes left. Texas A&M added two free throws over the next three minutes, but didn't make another field goal until a layup by T.J. Starks made it 48-43 with about 12 minutes remaining.

The Tigers couldn't take advantage of Texas A&M's scoring struggles as they had trouble in that span, too, missing five shots and committing a turnover.

The Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but the Aggies soon closed the gap and LSU was only up 29-28 at halftime.

POSTGAME NOTES

RECORDS / SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M dropped its third straight game Saturday afternoon at Reed Arena, falling to LSU 69-68 … the Aggies' record this season now stands at 11-4 with an 0-3 record in SEC play.
The all-time series between the schools now stands at 19-18 in favor of LSU.

TEAM NOTES

The Tigers' come-from-behind effort in the final seconds featured a pair of deep 3-point baskets by freshman Tremont Waters, the last of which came with 0.7 seconds remaining and put LSU up 69-68.
The game featured 10 lead changes and eight ties with neither team holding more than a 10-point advantage.
For the 14^th time in 15 games this season, the Aggies held an edge on the glass by outrebounding the Tigers, 40-36 … the advantage led to a 16-3 A&M margin for second-chance points.
Both teams got off to streaky starts as the Tigers raced out to a 10-0 lead before the Aggies countered with a 12-0 spurt to take their first lead of the day.
At the end of 20 minutes of competition, the Tigers took a 29-28 lead into the intermission … each team scored 40 points in the second half.
Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of JJ Caldwell, DJ Hogg, Savion Flagg, Tonny Trocha-Morelos and Tyler Davis for the first time this season (0-1) … the grouping was A&M's sixth different starting lineup this season.
A&M played without three starters – Admon Gilder (injury), Robert Williams (illness) and Duane Wilson (injury).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Junior Tyler Davis led the Aggies in scoring with 19 points on an 8-for-14 shooting performance … the Plano, Texas, native added 12 rebounds to secure his fifth double-double of the season (11^th career) while also contributing a pair of blocks.
Freshman JJ Caldwell, making his second consecutive start, led the Aggies with six assists … the freshman also added six rebounds and five points.
Junior DJ Hogg, who had missed the previous three games while serving a suspension, reached double figures in scoring for the ninth time on the season ... Hogg posted 12 points to go along with a pair of both swats and steals.
Senior Tonny Trocha-Morelos scored 13 points in 33 minutes of action. The Cartagena, Colombia, native recorded seven boards and hit 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy fell to 126-89 during his seven-year tenure at Texas A&M and 337-268 in 20 seasons as a head coach.

UP NEXT

The Aggies are back on the road when they travel to Lexington, Ky., for Tuesday showdown vs. No. 17 Kentucky ... The game will be televised on ESPN.

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening statement…
"Tough way to lose a game. I thought we fought hard. I'm proud of our guys for fighting in an adverse situation. I thought we made all the right plays, we just didn't make many free throws. Tremont Water made two tough shots. He's a special player. You have to give him credit and LSU credit for making shots when they needed to."

On having Tyler at the foul line in end-of-game situations …
"No question. There's nobody who works harder at free throws and shoots more free throws than Tyler Davis. The first option was trying to get DJ coming to the ball and TJ was wide open. Tonny made the right play by running the baseline to hit Tyler. Tyler had made all his free throws up until then. He's a much better free throw shooter than he has been in the past. Those weren't the free throws that got us beat. We missed a lot of free throws before that we should've had a bigger lead. We should have had a bigger lead if we had made some free throws earlier in the game."

On Hogg's return...
"You could tell he hadn't played in a game. The first half he was trying to get comfortable. Our chemistry is just different because we haven't had guys in games a whole lot. We've had different guys. It was really ugly the first half. I thought our offensive execution went very different the first half. We played guys in different spots and it didn't have a good flow to it. The second half we did a much better job offensively moving the ball and getting the ball and taking better shots. We took care of the ball better. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half. Too many for this type of game."

TEXAS A&M SENIOR Tonny Trocha-Morelos
On finding consistency with different guys in lineup…
"It's hard when you have other players on the court. As coach said, next man up and that's when we punch through. Everybody's ready to play and trying to understand everybody and how they play. I know it's hard for Savion to play the four but he does a really good job. It's hard for DJ to play the four but at the end of the day we have to do and execute what the coaches tell us to do."

LSU HEAD COACH WILL WADE
Opening Statement...
"Obviously a big win for us. He [Water] just made a great play down the stretch. With the three to get us down there and then the three on the inbound plays; he just made a play. He will tell you it wasn't his best game but he made plays when he needed to down the stretch. That is what really good players do and that is what he did. I was proud of our guys. We got some contributions from some guys. Rachal [Brandon] had not played in a while and he came in and contributed for us. Just a good win for us."

On Waters distance for three pointer…
"Well the play was supposed to be right around the three point line but they did a good job guarding and forcing it out. They made a play and he threw it in."

On emotion of tonight versus last night game…
"Usually this stuff kind of evens out so we were able to make a play tonight. I was just proud of our guys. Whether the shot went in or not we at least executed what we were supposed to do properly. You can't control whether the shot goes in or not but we were at least able to do what we were supposed to do and that was certainly different from the other night.

On first half of game…
"We missed a lot of shots we have normally been making. You know, it is life on the SEC on the road. You have to finish tough on the lane and you have more length at you flying from the threes. I think that it took us some time to adjust to that.

On action for future games…
"We are going to enjoy this. We have not won a lot of SEC games out here lately so we are going to enjoy this. There are no breaks in this league so we are going to get ready for Arkansas. Get on the road there and try to do it again on Wednesday. So hopefully another great environment, great team and we will go from there."

LSU FRESHMAN GUARD TREMONT WATER
On making game winning three point shot…
"Going into those kind of situations you have to know you have to make it; You can't second guess on not being able to make it. After he [Coach Wade] drew it up, I kind of talked to myself and was clapping walking into the court. I just said to myself that I was going to make it and ended up making it."

On reaction of teammates when game winning shot was made…
"It was a fun moment. My teammates were yelling at me and I got a lot of punches to the head and back; it is all part of the game. I am glad we came out with the win and were able to execute what the coach said and get the win."