Aggies Squeak Past Gators in 83-80 OT Thriller in SEC Tournament
Texas A&M's slim NCAA tournament hopes remain alive as the No. 8 seed Aggies downed the No. 9 seed Florida Gators 83-80 in overtime on Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Florida (19-13) played from behind the entire game, trailing 33-25 at the half. The Gators held their first lead of the game a little more than a minute into overtime, where Florida was eventually outscored 13-10. Hassan Diarra buried a 3-pointer - and the Gators - with just .4 seconds remaining in the extra frame.
The A&M (21-11) defense is one of the best in the nation at taking the ball away and forced Florida into 18 turnovers. The Aggies led by double-digits most of the second half, but the Gators outscored A&M 32-16 in the last 10 minutes to force overtime.
A&M had five players who scored in double-digits and were led by Henry Coleman III who scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and also led the team with eight rebounds. Diarra and Quenton Jackson had 14, Tyrece Radford scored 13, and Wade Taylor IV scored 10.
Following an eight-game losing streak, the Aggies have now won six of their last seven including five in a row.
Next up for the Aggies in the tournament are the well-rested and No. 1 seed Auburn Tigers on Friday.
If the Aggies can hang with the Tigers in a competitive game, they still have an outside shot at a berth in the NCAA Tournament. But with Thursday's win over Florida, A&M will most likely play in the National Invitation Tournament, and could even host a first-round NIT game.
Follow Timm Hamm on Twitter at @IndyCarTim and the Aggies Daily Blitz Podcast on YouTube.
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