Zhuric Phelps and reserve Pharrel Payne each scored 16 points as No. 17 Texas A&M knocked off 11th-ranked Purdue 70-66 on Saturday in the first game of the Indy Classic in Indianapolis.
Wade Taylor IV added 15 points, five assists and five steals for the Aggies (9-2) before leaving in the final minute of the game with a leg injury.
Texas A&M, which has won five in a row, forced 16 turnovers that led to 22 points. The Aggies also controlled the glass, earning a 34-23 rebounding advantage.
Four players scored in double figures for the Boilermakers (8-3), led by Braden Smith with 15 points and six assists. Fletcher Loyer added 12 points, all in the first half, and Trey Kaufman-Renn was held to 11 — seven under his team-high average — before fouling out. C.J. Cox came off the bench to contribute 10 points.
The Aggies led the entire second half, boosting the lead to 12 with 4:44 remaining and then holding off a late Purdue surge. Solomon Washington’s only point of the game, a foul shot with 6.9 seconds left after Kaufman-Renn’s fifth foul, sealed the outcome.
The pregame storyline was which star guard — Taylor or Smith — would tilt the game in his team’s direction. Both lived up to billing in the first half as Taylor scored 10 points with three assists while Smith canned four 3-pointers.
However, Smith also committed four turnovers and had just one assist, an unusual ratio for a guy who entered the game averaging 8.8 assists per game. And Payne’s nine points gave Texas A&M a 14-5 advantage in bench scoring.
The Aggies led for most of the half, although Purdue managed a 32-30 edge with 3:54 remaining. However, Texas A&M got two free throws from Phelps and another one from Coleman in the last 1:10 to take a 38-35 edge to intermission.
The Aggies, who entered the game hitting only 41.2 percent of their field goals, made 12 of 22 in the half and were 6 of 12 on 3-pointers.
–Field Level Media
