No. 12 Aggies earn come-from-behind win vs. Iowa State

ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 12 Texas A&M men’s basketball team rallied from a first-half 21-point deficit to win the ESPN Events Invitational third-place game with a 73-69 victory over Iowa State on Sunday at the State Farm Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.

With Iowa State hitting a barrage of 3-pointers in the first half, the Aggies fell behind 35-14 with 2:44 remaining in first stanza. But the tenacious Aggies were able to close the margin to 10 points by the break and came out hot in the second.

The Maroon & White evened the game at 41-41 less than six minutes into the second and took their first lead of the game at 45-43 at the 12:30 mark and never trailed again.

The Aggies got a balanced scoring attack with five players tallying at least eight points. Sophomore Solomon Washington, in his first start of the season, led the way with a career-high 18 points, including a career high three 3-pointers. Junior Wade Taylor IV chipped in 14 points, followed by junior Jace Carter and senior Andersson Garcia with nine.

GAME NOTES: SOLO: Solomon Washington earned his first start of the season and capitalized by scoring a game-high and career-high 18 points, beating his previous-best of 12 points in a single-game. Washington also registered a career-high three-pointers made with three. The sophomore had only made one beyond the arc going into tonight’s game.

SECOND HALF SPLURGE: Texas A&M came out hot in the second half for the come-from-behind win. A&M went from a first half showing of 9-of-31 field goals made, 2-of-13 from the three and 16 rebounds to a standout second half performance going 17-of-33 from the field, 4-of-11 from the three-point line and 26 rebounds.

FIGHTIN’ TEXAS AGGIES: The Aggies came back from a 21-point deficit to beat Iowa State, spearheaded by the 16 unanswered points from late in the first half to early in the second. A&M scored 11 points to close out the first half and the four extra that were added on at the start of the second sparked the comeback win. Texas A&M has not won a game when trailing by more than 17 points since at least 2010-11…The Aggies overcame a 17-pt deficit against Buzz Williams’ Virginia Tech team on Nov. 25, 2016 at the Wooden Legacy Classic.

80 WINS FOR BUZZ: It was the 80th victory of Williams’ career at Texas A&M and he now has posted at least 80 wins at three different schools – Texas A&M (80-48), Virginia Tech (100-69) and Marquette (139-69). HIGH SCORING: Texas A&M has scored at least 73 points in all seven games to open the season which hasn’t happened since the 1977-78 season.