Late heroics from Nebo lift Aggies past Texas Southern in a nail-biter, 58-55
Junior Texas A&M guard Savion Flagg has advice for Aggies basketball opponents in dire need to a clutch basket at crunch time.
Stay away from 6-foot-9 A&M senior post, Josh Nebo.
“I’d shoot a three,” Flagg said. “Don’t get close to him. Stay as far as away as I can.”
Twice in the final minute, the visiting Texas Southern was denied by the Nebo Veto as the Aggies held on for a 58-55 victory at Reed Arena.
A&M (6-5) was clinging to a precarious 55-54 lead when Texas Southern’s Chris Baldwin attempted a layup with 58 seconds remaining. Nebo swatted the shot away.
Forty-three seconds later — after Jay Jay Chandler added a free throw to A&M’s lead — Texas Southern guard Tarik Armstrong drove for a potentially-tying layup. Nebo, playing with four fouls, loomed between Armstrong and the rim.
“I seen Nebo down there, so I wasn’t too worried,” Flagg said.
Nebo forced Armstrong to alter his shot, which went high off the glass and caromed away from the rim into the hands of A&M freshman forward Emanuel Miller.
“I was on the block trying to do what I’m best at,” Nebo said. “It was winning time. The game was winding down. In my mind, you’re making any winning play you can.”
Miller passed to Flagg, who was quickly fouled. Flagg then converted a pair of free throws with 12.4 seconds to give the Aggies an insurmountable 58-54 lead.
Texas Southern (3-10) added a free throw in the last second to complete the scoring.
Flagg netted 18 points to lead the Aggies in scoring, while Nebo notched a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds to go along with four blocked shots. Jay Jay Chandler also had 10 points for A&M.
Texas Southern, which defeated A&M last season, was led by forward Yahuza Rasas and guard John Jones with 15 points each. Armstrong had 11.
The victory was the third in a row for Texas A&M, which begins Southeastern Conference play against Arkansas on Saturday night.
Asked if the Aggies are ready for conference action, A&M coach Buzz Williams said: “I don’t know. I don’t know. We could have easily lost any guarantee game that we played. We can continue to say that, or we can turn it and say, ‘Yeah, but we didn’t.’ There’s something to be said for that.”
Later Williams added: “I think we have gained some traction relative to what we have to do in order to have a chance.
“We will not be favored to win a game the rest of the year.”
The Aggies were expected to defeat Texas Southern, especially after posting an impressive 64-49 victory over Oregon State last week.
However, the Tigers were as annoying as a wad of bubblegum on heels of a shoe. The Aggies couldn’t quite scrape them off.
That was largely because A&M, the nation’s worst three-point shooting team, missed its first 12 attempts behind the arc and shot just 16.7 percent (4 of 24) from three-point range.
Chandler and Flagg both hit three-pointers in a 9-0 run that gave A&M its largest lead, 36-28, with 16:48 remaining in the game.
However, A&M missed its next nine shots and committed three turnovers in a 5:08 scoring drought.
That allowed Texas Southern to rally, and the Tigers trailed just 55-54 when forward Justin Hopkins hit two free throws with 2:16 left.
Jones almost gave the Tigers the lead with 1:47 remaining, but his three-point attempt rimmed out, and Nebo snatched the rebound.
Nebo then blocked Baldwin’s lay-up attempt in the final minute and then altering Armstrong’s bid to tie the score.
“(Armstrong) hits that shot all the time,” Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones said. “That’s an easy shot for him. It’s generally off the glass and in for him.
“He’s certainly really good in the open floor. I thought Nebo did a great job of getting in there. Anytime you’ve got a guy that size and a good shot-blocker, if he doesn’t get his hand on it, he generally alters your shot, and you put a little more arc on it than necessary sometimes. He creates misses.”
He also creates hope for the Aggies.
“We have to have Nebo have a double-double with almost as many offensive rebounds as defensive rebounds in order for us to have a chance,” Williams said. “If, for some reason, we can throw him the ball without turning it over, we need one out of every four shots he takes we need it to be an and-one.
“We need him to shoot above 65 percent if he gets a free throw attempt. That’s about as specific as he can be. If he doesn’t do that, we’re in a bind.”