COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Emporia State coach David Moe and his Hornets didn’t make for very good guests at Mark Turgeon’s first Texas A&M party.
ESU led through most of the first eight minutes and trailed by just two with seven minutes left, eventually falling 85-73 to No. 14 Texas A&M in Turgeon’s first game as coach Thursday night at Reed Arena.
“It’s not (Moe’s) most talented team. I think it’s his best team,” Turgeon said. “Boy, they play well together.”
Turgeon, who has faced ESU six straight seasons in exhibition play, even went so far as to tell Moe after the game that he believed it was the best Hornet team he’d seen.
Moe’s response?
“He just kind of looked at me like I was crazy,” Turgeon said with a smile, “but I really do think they’re good and hard to guard.”
After trailing by as many as 14 in the second half, ESU made things more than interesting with nine minutes left.
A 12-4 ESU run made it 51-45, and a few minutes later, the Hornets trimmed the lead even further.
DeAndre Townsend hit a three from the corner, then drove for a lay-in followed by a runner to cut the A&M lead to 64-62 with nine minutes left.
Led by their big men, the Aggies responded with an 8-0 run to regain a 72-62 advantage. A&M had six players 6-foot-9 or taller.
ESU had none.
“When you’re this small and this slow, it’s difficult,” 6-foot-6 ESU forward Jordan Fithian said.
ESU couldn’t cut the lead under seven the rest of the way.
“They’re a great team,” Fithian said. “We hung with them for a little bit, then they showed how good they were at the end.”
The Hornets didn’t back down from the taller and more talented Aggies in the first half.
After falling behind 4-0, ESU answered with its own run.
Caleb Tegtmeier hit a 3-pointer, Fithian followed with a leaner and freshman Matt Boswell connected on a three from the wing for an 8-0 Hornet spurt that made it 8-4.
The Hornets held that advantage for the next four minutes.
Boswell added his second three, then connected on a baseline jumper to make it 16-12.
He had nine points in the first half in his first collegiate game.
“He did a great job,” Moe said. “He kept us in the game by hitting shots.”
Meanwhile, ESU also was getting it done on the defensive end against a much bigger A&M team.
The Hornets, though undersized, clamped down on the Aggies’ Joseph Jones, who was a second-team Big 12 selection last year after averaging 13.4 points per game.
The 6-9 forward picked up his first point at the 10:06 mark of the first half on a free throw, giving A&M the lead at 18-17.
The Aggies extended their advantage to 30-21, but ESU responded with a 6-0 run.
Townsend hit a pair of free throws for his first points at the 5:30 mark, and Fithian and Tegtmeier both put in jumpers to make it 30-27 with 4:30 left in the half.
“In tough situations, we didn’t panic,” Moe said. “We stayed right in there.”
A&M scored nine of the half’s final 11 points to go up 42-31 at the break.
Townsend, the first-team All-MIAA selection, had just two points at half.
“Honestly, I was out there trying to figure out how to get a shot off on the big boys,” Townsend said. “They were standing there like trees.”
Townsend started to heat up in the second half, helping ESU close the lead to six.
After a pair of Marvin Lee jumpshots, Townsend hit back-to-back threes to cap a 12-4 run that cut the A&M advantage to 51-45 with 14:52 left.
Townsend then scored nine of ESU’s next 17 points, helping ESU cut the lead to two.
ESU stayed competitive despite getting out-rebounded 44-31.
“It gets frustrating when you’re going up for a rebound and somebody’s a foot and a half above you,” Fithian said. “You don’t have much of a chance.”
Townsend led the Hornets, scoring 18 of his 20 points in the second half.
Fithian added 14, while Boswell, Lee and Tegtmeier had nine each.
DeAndre Jordan, the 7-foot freshman rated the No. 8 high school player by Rivals.com last year, was tough on ESU all night.
He scored 12 points and six rebounds in his A&M debut. Josh Carter had a team-high 14 points, while Jones added 10.
Gonzaga — the other team ranked No. 14 in the AP poll — will be ESU’s next opponent Wednesday in Spokane, Wash.
“If they can guard that well and rebound that well,” Turgeon said, “they have a chance to have a pretty special year. I believe that.”
Texas A&M 85, Emporia State 73
Emporia State 31 42 — 73
Texas A&M 42 43 — 85
Emporia State — DeAndre Townsend 20, Jordan Fithian 14, Caleb Tegtmeier 9, Marvin Lee 9, Matt Boswell 9, Wes Book 7, Andrew Davison 5.
Texas A&M — Josh Carter 14, Donald Sloan 12, DeAndre Jordan 12, Dominique Kirk 11, Joseph Jones 10, Derrick Roland 8, Bryan Davis 6, Beau Muhlbach 5, B.J. Holmes 4, Bryson Graham 3.
Records — Emporia State 0-1 exhibition, Texas A&M 1-0 exhibition.