Futile free-throw shooting fails Texas A&M in top-10 loss to Alabama

A fine line often separates top-10 basketball teams.

But the free-throw line was the difference between No. 10 Texas A&M (13-3, 2-1) falling 94-88 to No. 5 Alabama (14-2, 2-1) on Saturday night at Reed Arena.

In an intense Southeastern Conference struggle, the erratic-shooting Aggies left 20 points at the foul line.

“I think if you can shoot 48 free throws in a conference game, you’d take that every time,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “Tonight was our 11th ‘high-major’ game, and in the first 10, we shot 75 percent from the free-throw line.”

This time, the Aggies shot 58.3 percent (28-of-48). That was too much to overcome with another furious comeback bid — as stubborn as it was valiant — that came up short in the final seconds.

“Really, just the ball didn’t fall our way,” A&M senior guard Hayden Hefner said. “We missed too many free throws. They took our recipe and just performed it better. They offensive rebounded better than us. Really, just that’s all there is.”

Free throws were indeed the most glaring issue. Alabama coach Nate Oats acknowledged as much.

“They were pretty good tonight, to be honest with you,” Oats said of the Aggies. "They’re pretty good every night. I thought they really attacked us well.

"Honestly, we’re fortunate they couldn’t make free throws. If they could make free throws, this game would have looked a little bit different.”

As Hefner mentioned, there were other issues, too. Alabama outrebounded the Aggies 54-46. That included 24 on the offensive glass, which led to 16 second-chance points.

A&M also only hit four times from 3-point range, while Alabama converted 13 from behind the arc.

Zhuric Phelps led A&M with 24 points, while Pharrel Payne had 23 points and nine rebounds. Hefner netted 16. Henry Coleman III had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

However, Mark Sears led Alabama with 27 points, while Aden Holloway, Chris Youngblood and Derrion Reid also were in double figures.

Yet, the Aggies somehow stayed in contention and then made a strong challenge to pull off a second straight incredible comeback.

Last Wednesday night, the Aggies trailed Oklahoma by 18 points with 17 minutes to play but rallied to an 80-78 victory.

This time, A&M trailed by 15 points with 7:41 left. But they pulled within 87-84 with 1:22 left — ironically, by Payne converting a pair of free throws.

After a defensive stop, Williams called time out with 41.7 seconds left to design a play for Hefner to take a potential game-tying shot

“What I had told the guys was if it’s not clean, I’m going to call another one (time out),” Williams said. “We call that ‘Van Alstyne’ — that’s the community where I’m from. ‘Van Alstyne’ means, ‘I want you to do exactly what I asked you to do, but I have the trump card on the time out.’ But I thought that was a great look.”

It was indeed. Hefner popped open at the top of the key, but his shot was just off.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

With 12 points and 11 boards, Henry Coleman III registered his first double-double of the season. A year ago, he had five double-doubles.

“We ran it perfectly. I got the open look. It just didn’t fall,” Hefner said.

Alabama then was able to push its lead to 90-84. But Payne, who scored 11 of his 23 points on free throws, drew a foul while putting back an offensive rebound.

Alas, he missed the and-one with 12 seconds left, which all but ended A&M’s chances to complete the rally.

The Aggies could’ve found some solace in the fact they had a chance.They were playing without leading-scorer Wade Taylor IV, a 90-percent free-throw shooter, for the second consecutive game.

But Alabama led just 52-44 at halftime despite A&M missing 11 free throws, converting just three times from 3-point range, hitting only 39.4 percent from the field and allowing Alabama 10 treys.

The Aggies never flinched, though.

“I have unquantifiable love for who (the Aggies) are,” Williams said. “I think it’s really easy down 18 with 17 minutes to play (vs. OU), down 15 at whatever it was today (to let down) … And just kind of hang around even though odds say everything is against you.”

It was a disappointing loss, but Coleman said it wasn’t devastating. It can’t be with a road trip to Kentucky upcoming in three days.

“It’s a long season,” Coleman said. “We don’t hang our heads on anything. We have work to do tomorrow. We’re prepared for it. Guys will watch film tonight and get ready to play in Lexington on Tuesday.”