Shawn Phillips Jr.’s dunk in the final seconds and his block on the final possession proved the difference as Missouri outslugged Texas A&M 86-85 on Wednesday in a wild dustup at College Station, Texas.
The Aggies led by five points at halftime and by seven 3 1/2 minutes into the second half until Missouri rallied to take a 62-59 advantage. The Tigers were up by eight points after an alley-oop dunk by Trent Pierce with 7:55 to play, but Texas A&M rallied, retaking the lead on a driving layup by Marcus Hill with 4:57 left.
That was the first of eight lead changes over the remainder of the game.
Texas A&M reassumed the front of Zach Clemence’s jumper with 1:35 remaining. After both teams had empty possessions, Mark Mitchell passed toward the rim for Phillips, and the resulting alley-oop dunk put Missouri ahead by a point with 17 seconds to play.
Rylan Griffen missed a 3-point attempt for the Aggies with eight seconds remaining, but Clemence grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 3.4 seconds left. Texas A&M then went to Rashaun Agee for the attempted winning shot, but it was blocked by Phillips, and the Tigers escaped with the victory.
Pierce led Missouri (17-7, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) with 23 points and nine rebounds. T.O. Barrett put up 17 points, Phillips finished with 12 and Jayden Stone and Jacob Crews added 11 points apiece for the Tigers, who have won three straight games.
Clemence scored 20 points for the Aggies, with Griffen scoring 17 and Agee tallying 13. Texas A&M (17-7, 7-4) has dropped a season-high three contests in a row.
The Aggies hit seven of their first nine 3-point attempts over the game’s first 10 1/2 minutes but led just 29-27. Texas A&M stretched its lead to as many as six points before the Tigers roared back to within 40-39 on a wild, banked 3-pointer by Barrett with the shot clock expiring with 2:06 to play in the half.
Clemence converted a three-point play with 34 seconds remaining to give the Aggies a 46-41 advantage at the break. Barrett and Griffen led their teams with 11 points each at halftime.
The Aggies were up 57-50 after a Clemence 3-pointer with 16:18 to play before Missouri charged back, using a 12-2 run to take a 62-59 lead with 12:43 to go, setting the stage for the furious finish.
