Oregon scored the final 10 points of the game against No. 20 Texas A&M, pulling off an 80-70 upset of the Aggies Tuesday afternoon at the Players Era Thanksgiving Festival in Las Vegas.
TJ Bamba led four players in double figures with 18 points as the Ducks (6-0) shot 61.5 percent in the second half, had runs of 16 and 10 straight points in the half and put up 51 points after the break. Brandon Angel and Jackson Shelstad added 16 points each, while Jadrian Tracey added 11 for Oregon.
The Aggies (4-2) got 20 points from Zhuric Phelps and 15 from Wade Taylor IV. Texas A&M lost a 10-point lead in the second half before pulling back ahead 69-68 with 4:41 left on CJ Wilcher’s 3-pointer, but that proved to be the Aggies’ last bucket of the game.
Taylor’s free throw tied the game at 70 following Nate Bittle’s dunk, but the final 2:21 belonged to the Ducks.
Kwame Evans Jr. hit the go-ahead free throw with 1:22 left before Shelstad’s jumper gave Oregon a three-point edge with 45 seconds to play. Texas A&M still couldn’t buy a basket, and the Ducks hit seven free throws over the final 34 seconds to seal the win.
The Aggies missed their final 11 shots and finished 22-of-68 (32.4 percent) from the floor.
Oregon took its first lead of the game less than two minutes into the second half, on a Shelstad 3-pointer to go up 35-32.
Texas A&M’s defense focused on double-teaming Bittle, Oregon’s leading scorer, and it worked. He had just two points when he picked up his third foul with 12:21 left. Pharrel Payne’s ensuing free throw made it 50-42 Aggies. Bittle finished with six points on just 2-of-3 shooting.
Phelps drained a deep 3 for a 53-44 lead before Jace Carter added a trey and a layup to make it 58-48 with 9:35 to play.
The Ducks ripped off the next 16 points, keyed by a pair of Shelstad steals and layups from Tracey, who converted one of them into a three-point play.
After Oregon forced a shot clock violation, Angel knocked down a sideline 3 for a 60-58 lead with 7:24 to play. Shelstad’s layup capped the run and put the Ducks up by six, their largest lead of the game.
The Aggies led 32-29 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
