The
eighth-seeded Tigers hit 17 of 22 from the charity stripe in two
overtime periods, including 12 of 16 in the second extra session and
held off No. 9 seed Texas A&M 91-83 in a second round game at the
Georgia Dome.
Missouri
(22-10), which will play top seed and Associated Press No. 1 Florida in
today’s quarterfinals, secured an advantage as large as nine points in
the second half, but led by Alex Caruso Texas A&M took its largest
lead of the game at 68-64 at the two-minute mark on a three from the
sophomore guard.
After coming into game averaging just 8.6 points, Caruso had 22 points in regulation and finished with a game-high 28 points.
Neither
team hit another field goal during regulation after Caruso’s fifth and
final three of the game. Missouri sent the game into overtime on two
free throws each from Earnest Ross and Jabari Brown. A&M’s attempt
at a potential go-ahead bucket came with 16 seconds left when Kourtney
Roberson missed a long jumper, then Missouri turned the ball over with
four seconds to play.
In
the first overtime, the Tigers again held a more-than one possession
lead at 76-71 after Brown hit two more free throws. Caruso and Roberson
each went 2 of 2 from the stripe, getting the Aggies to within 77-75
with just under 12 seconds to play.
Blake
McDonald played just two minutes all day, but he had a huge steal off
an inbounds play, and Caruso’s lay up with eight seconds left evened
things up at 77-77.
The
game was tied at 79-79 in the second overtime when Missouri had a
game-changing possession. Earnest Ross made 1 of 2 free throws, and on
the miss, Johnathan Williams rebounded twice and converted a lay up to
put the Tigers ahead 82-79.
“That was a big play with the offensive rebound on the free throw,” said A&M coach Billy Kennedy.
A steal led to another two shots from the line by Ross and Missouri’s lead never fell below six points the rest of the way.
Jabari
Brown, the SEC’s leading scorer, had a team-high 26 points before
fouling out with 53 seconds left in the first overtime. Less than a
minute into the second overtime, Jordan Clarkson, seventh in the league
in scoring, (though he scored just 12 points on 3 of 8 shooting), also
fouled out.
“That’s on us to finish the game with either of their two best players (not) in the game,” said Caruso.
There
were seven lead changes within the first nine minutes, but Ross’
3-pointer at the 10:52 mark put Missouri up for the remainder of the
half at 20-18.
Ross
capped an 11-2 spurt with another 3-pointer and the Tigers led 28-20
with a little under seven minutes to go in the half. Ross had seven
points in both of Missouri’s two previous games against A&M,
including a 3-of-9 shooting performance in last year’s first round win
in the conference tournament, but the senior’s 17 points helped him
surpass that total by halftime Thursday.
The senior guard finished with 24 points.
A&M’s
starting back court of Caruso and Jamal Jones (20 points) each started
the game by hitting their first three shots and carried the No. 9 seed
to a slim 16-14 cushion with 13 1/2 minutes to play.
The
Aggies shot the ball well from the field in the early going, hitting
seven of their first 12 shots. But the No. 8 seed went through a 3 1/2
minute spell without a point and missed 10 of its last 13 shots of the
half.
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