Texas A&M (8-3) hosted the HCU Huskies (2-9) on Friday night at Reed Arena and came out with a decisive win to end their two-game skid.
Both teams had a hard time at the beginning of the game making a bucket not allowing any squad to take a dominant lead. Then, finally, after about 10 minutes in, the Aggies ratcheted up the defense, and Hayden Hefner knocked down seven straight points for a double-digit lead at 19-9.
Right when it looked as if A&M was going to blow the game wide open, HCU had some timely buckets as the Aggie committed a few senseless turnovers. The shooting woes continued for the Maroon & White, but they were able to slash to the basket late in the half for some shots from the charity stripe going 15-20.
The star of the opening 20 minutes was Hefner, who led the team with 13 points, and some smothering defense allowed them to go on an 18-3 run while Wade Taylor IV spent most of the half on the bench. The Aggies held HCU to under 27% shooting, taking a 40-21 lead into the locker room.
The second half started with more of the same, with Hefner hitting a few early shots and Andersson Garcia being a monster on the glass, giving the Aggies multiple second-chance points.
Garcia and Hefner guided A&M to an easy victory as both Aggies hit career numbers. Even though they shot poorly, their ability to get to the free-throw line and their signature rebounding really helped extend the lead to 20+. The reserves started to shuffle in and out during the remaining five minutes as they spent some clock working on some offensive sets.
The only thing that didn’t slow down was the defense of A&M as the Huskies were limited to 33% shooting and grabbed a massive 22 offensive rebounds. Hefner led all scorers with a career-high 24 points on very efficient shooting, while Garcia barely missed out on a double-double and logged 9 points and 19 rebounds. Taylor had a quiet 10 points, but Buzz Williams opted to rest him most of the game.
With the win, A&M snapped a two-game winning streak and got numerous bench players in the game during the 79-62 victory over the HCU Huskies.
Below are the Aggie critical contributors from the game:
Hayden Hefner: 24 points (career-high)
Andersson Garcia: 9 points / 19 rebounds (career-high)
Jace Carter: 10 points / 12 rebounds
NOTE: Tyrece Radford did not suit up for the game
Texas A&M will return home for their final non-conference game against Prairie View A&M on Dec.30 at 7:00 PM CST.
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