For the entire first half – and much of the second – Texas A&M couldn’t buy a defensive stop. The Aggies had no answer for Washington and its big man, Jon Brockman.
But when the game was on the line, their defense went from sieve to stifling, shutting the Huskies down in a 77-63 NIT Season Tip-Off semifinal win last night at the Garden.
Donald Sloan had a team-high 18 points for the 16th-ranked Aggies (5-0), but it was Joe Jones (17 points, six boards) and the defense that won the game.
Clinging to a 55-54 lead with 7:24 left, the Aggies held UW without a basket for the next 5:40, mounting a 12-2 run to reach tomorrow’s NIT final.
The Aggies, who trailed at the half 36-32, fell behind by as much as 10 in a first half that saw them allow 53.3 percent shooting. But the Aggies held Washington (3-1) to 26.3 percent in the second half, thanks to a couple tweaks from coach Mark Turgeon.
Torched on the fast-break in the first half, Turgeon kept two men back in transition defense in the second. He coaxed his Aggies to fight through screens. And most of all, after seeing Brockman (21 points, 15 rebounds) dominate freshman DeAndre Jordan (eight points, 10 boards), he waited until 8:07 left to sub Jones back in and put him on Brockman.
It worked to perfection. A 52-51 lead became a 14-point win.
“We were scared to death in the beginning, turning the ball over, not defending, not executing. We weren’t doing anything right,” said Turgeon, whose team gave up the first basket of the second half to fall behind by six. But the Aggies forced seven straight misses, and an 8-0 run gave them a two-point lead.
Washington’s Joe Wolfinger scored to make it 55-54 with 7:24 to play. Little did they know the Huskies wouldn’t get another basket until Justin Dentmon’s layup with 1:44 left. By then, A&M had a 67-58 lead, and the game was over.
After a 13-point, 11-rebound first half, Brockman had a quiet eight-point, four-board second half, thanks largely to Jones.
“He’s a beast,” Jones said of Brockman. “I tried to give my team the boost we needed. Coach just said when you [finish] getting caught up in playing at the Garden, just play defense. I loved it. This place is filled with so much tradition; to be able to step on this court is an honor.”
NIT TIP-OFF SEMIS Texas A&M 77 Washington 63