COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- No. 12
Joseph Jones scored seven of his 19 points in the first 3:30 of the game and the Aggies cruised to a 94-60 win over Lamar in the inaugural Shelby Metcalf Classic on Friday night.
The Aggies jumped out to a 30-5 lead, going on runs of 11-0 to start the game and 14-2 to pull away in the game's first 10 minutes. In their first game, the Aggies jumped out in front of Prairie View A&M with a 26-5 run.
"I knew we were hot at the start, we swung the ball on both sides of floor and put pressure on them," coach Billy Gillispie said. "We were pushing the ball down the floor against their defense and we had them in a mode where they had to retreat a little bit. Inside-out is the way you are supposed to play."
Also leading the Aggies in scoring were Josh Carter with 14 points, while Dominique Kirk and Antanas Kavaliauskas had 12 points apiece.
Acie Law was the only starter that did not score in double figures, but he still had nine points and a team-high six assists.
Lamar's Brandon Chappell found his outside shooting touch in the second half and finished the game with a team high 16 points. He was the only player to make a 3-pointer for Lamar, which went 4-of-23 from beyond the 3-point line.
A bright spot for the Cardinals was their rebounding. They had 46 in the game with 20 coming on the offensive end.
"They are good, No. 12 and deserving of their ranking," Lamar coach Steve Roccaforte said. "They are very well-coached and they defend well. They are a lot deeper than they have been in the past couple of years."
James Davis scored 14 points and was a force inside for Lamar, which only shot 28 percent. He scored eight points in the last three minutes of the second half to cut into the Aggies' lead.
Lamar went to a zone defense in the second half in order to slow A&M, which led 57-23 at halftime. Both teams scored 37 points after intermission.
Texas A&M's largest lead was 73-32 with 13:10 left in the second half.
Lamar went on a 13-4 run over the next five minutes -- their only real run of the game.
Texas A&M has now won 24 straight non-conference home games and nine straight regular-season games.
Aggies freshman forward Bryan Davis scored 11 points and had a game high three blocks. Thirteen players scored for the Aggies, and no starter played more than 25 minutes.
"It was a really, really good first half against a team that is much better than they played in the first half," Gillispie said. "It is nice to win and we are excited about the win, but we have a long, long, long way to go to be a very good team."
