Texas A&M basketball falls to Cougars in hard-fought, overtime contest

Texas A&M basketball vs. Houston: Second half

Texas A&M basketball opened the second half with a missed three by Wade that turned into a flip into the bucket off an offensive rebound by Boots. Houston answered quickly, but a couple of empty possessions on both sides ensued—including a tough charge call against Manny that wiped out a transition bucket.

Carter continued the dry spell after an 0-for-2 trip to the line, followed by a three-pointer by LJ Cryer. Washington committed an offensive foul on the other end to give him his third, and the Aggies were in danger. A steal by the Aggies led instead to a Wade layup in transition, but Cryer answered with another three. Jace Carter hit right back with a deep shot, though, followed by makes from Sharp and Wade. The deficit remained at 5 headed into the first media timeout, but it looked like Wade was beginning to heat up.

Houston missed a shot out of the timeout, but Boots promptly turned it over to give the ball right back to the Cougars. Cryer capitalized with a baseline jumper, and despite several offensive rebounds, the Aggies couldn't answer on the other end. You could feel the balance of the calls changing, as Houston continued their overly physical play, but this time without any whistles. The Cougars scored again to take their biggest lead of the night, and the Aggies were forced to call timeout.

The return to action saw turnovers on both sides, but Obaseki answered with a layup that bounced around before falling in. A demoralizing moment followed, though, as Jamal Shead flew in for a huge putback dunk over Garcia following a Houston miss. Each team turned it over again headed into the next media timeout.

After more turnovers and missed shots on both sides, Solo hit a huge corner three to cut the lead to six. Houston answered, but the Aggies forced the issue on the other end, with Radford drawing a foul. He went 2-for-2 this time, bringing the deficit back to six. A hugely frustrating moment happened right after, as Jace Carter got a steal and was running out in transition, but he was called out—however, the replay showed that he never stepped out of bounds. Houston converted on their next shot, but Radford drove again on the opposite end to draw yet another foul.

Radford converted on both free throws, but Cryer hit another three to give the Cougars a nine-point lead once more. The Aggies needed to find some offense, but were having trouble converting. Houston got in the bonus, however, and Sharp hit some freebies to go up 10. Radford answered with a three-pointer, but the Cougs got back to the line on the other end of the floor.

Before long, things went from bad to worse for the Aggies. They continued to struggle offensively, unable to string together anything on that end of the floor. Houston, however, was beginning to cook more and more, and they built a thirteen-point lead.

Things began to look dim for the Ags. The Cougars maintained a double-digit lead with just over two minutes to go, and were able to break an aggressive Aggie press after they cut it to 10 points. Things began to get interesting, however. The Cougars seemed to have put the Aggies away, but some huge shot making from Taylor and Radford, combined with some huge putbacks and free throws, cut the lead to 3 with 44 seconds to go.

The Aggies played straight-up defense, and Solomon Washington stripped Jamal Shead on a drive. The Ags missed two straight shots, but Texas A&M basketball would get a third attempt with 10.1 seconds to go after the Cougars batted the ball out of bounds. Wade missed two three-pointers, but the Aggies tied it up, with the possession arrow, with 1.2 seconds to go—enough time for a final heave.

Here is that heave.

Overtime.