Rashaun Agee recorded 22 points and nine rebounds to lead 10th-seeded Texas A&M to an easy 63-50 victory over No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s in South region first-round action on Thursday at Oklahoma City.
Ruben Dominguez scored all 11 of his points in the first half in a contest that the Aggies (22-11) never trailed.
Joshua Dent scored 18 points and Liam Campbell added 15 for the Gaels (27-6), who committed a season-worst 18 turnovers.
Paulius Murauskas, the Gaels’ leading scorer, had just four points and three rebounds in 23 minutes while battling an illness.
The Aggies will play either second-seeded Houston or 15th-seeded Idaho in Saturday’s second round.
Texas A&M shot 44.2% from the field, including 8 of 23 from 3-point range.
Murauskas didn’t start due to his illness but entered with 17:07 left in the first half. He was clearly hindered and never found his stride. The player averaging 18.8 points and 7.7 rebounds made just 1 of 6 shots.
He was sent to the locker room with 11 seconds left after his frustration boiled over. Murauskas came off the bench and onto the court to grab the back of the jersey of Texas A&M’s Rylan Griffen after Griffen said something in the direction of the Saint Mary’s bench.
Saint Mary’s shot just 38.3% from the field and made 10 of 23 3-point attempts.
The Aggies led by 11 points at halftime, then broke the game open with an 11-3 run to start the second half. The run was capped when Josh Holloway set up Jamie Vinson for an alley-oop dunk to make it 48-29 with 14:40 left.
Texas A&M led 53-33 before Dent made two 3-pointers during a 9-1 run that brought the Gaels within 12 with 7:41 remaining but there wouldn’t be a late-game push.
Agee joined Dominguez in scoring 11 first-half points as the Aggies led 37-26 at the break.
Texas A&M rattled off the game’s first nine points but Saint Mary’s crept within 23-22 with 4:54 left in the half after consecutive 3-pointers by Mikey Lewis and Dent.
Later in the half, Dominguez knocked down two 3-pointers in 32 seconds and Zach Clemence added a trey with 1:05 left to complete a 9-0 burst and give Texas A&M a 13-point advantage.
