{"id":1416,"date":"2006-03-10T22:58:49","date_gmt":"2006-03-11T04:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2006-03-10T22:59:57","modified_gmt":"2006-03-11T04:59:57","slug":"aggie-hoops-finally-a-big-12-tourney-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=1416","title":{"rendered":"Aggie Hoops: Finally a Big 12 Tourney Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas A&M entered today’s quarterfinal with zero wins in the history of the Big 12 conference’s tournament. Well before the contest with Colorado was over, it was clear that the 0-9 tournament streak was coming to an end as the Ags cruised to a 86-53 statement win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Texas A&M finally got to play a Friday game in the Big 12 tournament. The Aggies will get to stick around and find out what it’s like playing on the weekend.<\/p>\n

Joseph Jones had 21 points and Josh Carter 15, including four of Texas A&M’s season-high 12 3-pointers, and the Aggies won in the Big 12 tournament for the first time, beating Colorado 86-53 in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

The Aggies (21-7), who have won a league-high eight straight games, play No. 8 Texas (26-5) in the semifinals Saturday. That comes 10 days after Acie Law hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a 46-43 victory over the Longhorns.<\/p>\n

In what might have been an NCAA elimination game, Colorado (20-9) was only 18-of-60 shooting and was never in the game after jumping out to a quick 9-2 lead. The Buffaloes will have to wait until Sunday to find out if they go to the NCAAs for first time since 2003, and third time in 10 1\/2 seasons under coach Ricardo Patton.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Texas A&M had never played on the second day of the Big 12 tournament, having lost in the first round nine straight years before getting a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed this year.<\/p>\n

With the way the game began, it looked as if the Aggies might extend their dubious postseason streak. Then they started hitting long-range shots.<\/p>\n

The Aggies trailed until Carter’s first 3-pointer made it 13-11 with 10:46 left in the first half. They never trailed again and went on to their biggest margin of victory in a postseason game.<\/p>\n

After Roby missed, Carter made another 3-pointer while being fouled and added the free throw.<\/p>\n

Even when Colorado extended its defensive pressure beyond the arc, and the shot clock was running down, Law made a long 3-pointer. The shot clock was nearing zero again on the next possession when Dominique Kirk hit, pushing the Aggies ahead 23-13.<\/p>\n

Those four 3-pointers were part of a 23-2 spurt that ended when Jones made a tough baseline jumper while being fouled. He missed the free throw, but it was still 29-13 with 5 minutes left.<\/p>\n

Jones didn’t have any of the 3-pointers, but was 8-of-10 shooting.<\/p>\n

The Aggies led 38-24 at halftime, then opened the second half with Jones making a layup and then a free throw after being fouled. Colorado never got closer than 14 points after that, and trailed by at least 20 the final 12 minutes after Carter hit another 3-pointer to make it 53-33.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let the analysts and pundits debate whether the Ags are a lock for a trip to March Madness or are still a team on the bubble. As for me, I’m just going to enjoy today’s great leap forward — it is, after all, a far sweeter moment that last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas A&M entered today’s quarterfinal with zero wins in the history of the Big 12 conference’s tournament. Well before the contest with Colorado was over, it was clear that the 0-9 tournament streak was coming to an end as the Ags cruised to a 86-53 statement win. Texas A&M finally got to play a Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}