After the Women’s Basketball game ended, dad’s friend, Janet, went to another seat to be with her son for the Aggie Men’s game against the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders. Dad growled at me to go get my dinner, because he wanted to leave, “pretty quick.” He’d only agreed to stay till halftime.
A bunch of people came in for this game (attendance 4,114). Going around the crowded concourse, I went to over to the grill for an Aggie Burger. And I found out that the price of the burger had gone up from $6 to $10, since last season. The line was also about 10 deep.
I went over to one of the other concession stalls and looked for pizza. They had it there, but they only sold whole pizzas, not slices or personal pizzas. (I think their whole pizzas were $20, which would not be bad if you’re feeding a group. A family below us was sharing one.) I settled on the Pete’s Combo with a hot dog, chips, and a drink. How disappointing. I’m finally here with the grill open and just end up with a hot dog. At least, I liked mine. Dad didn’t like his.
The little Native American girl performed the Anthem in Navajo again. I saw her around the press table during the game, still wearing her tiara and sash. What can I say? She’s a princess and was going to let everybody know it. The team had a really classy player introduction video, along with a black & white video showing the history of the program. The handsome guy in the middle of the poster, I was finally able to identify as Robert Carpenter. This guy should think about taking acting classes, if he doesn’t have a serious major. Not so classy was the program for the game. It was just plain paper. Also, Student Section was not entirely filled. That was a poor showing.
First Half
As the game began, dad’s former co-worker, Beverly, who was sitting by us, moved over beside me. She was having trouble seeing from her seat with a tall person in front of her. The 90-year old was pleasant company for game. She was enthusiastic and made some insightful comments about play. Meanwhile, dad was not speaking to me. He barely wanted to be here for the Women earlier and wanted to go home.
A&M started the game with backcourt violation off the tip. Carl Cherenfant began the Aggie scoring with a jumper. Carpenter hit a 3 and things were looking good. However, the Aggies had a bad pass. Christian Cook, the iconic-looking guy on the left of the poster with the long braids, prevented a layup and the Islanders did not score on the possession. Cook then hammered a three and the Aggies were up 8-0 with 17’ left in the half.
Jack Nixon on the radio call commented on the Islanders’ uniforms. They were black with neon green trim and blue numbers. Jack thought they were nice, but the numbers were hard to read. His partner, Anita Skipper, laughed at him. (This is why you bring a radio and want to have the call during the game.)
The Aggies had committed a couple of fouls early. A&M got in the board with 3 free throws off a foul on a 3-pointer. Aggie big man (7’) Emmanuel Tshimanga drew a foul and made one of two. Anita was all over him. “Why can’t big men shoot free throws?” A&M came back and missed a pair, while Aggie Peter Filipovity made one of two. The only thing this really proves is that all these guys need more free practice. 10-3 Aggies with 15’ left.
Aggie Gabe Pickens came in with bright pink shoes. That was a bold (?) choice. In play, Peter ran the gauntlet down the lane for a layup. Anita was trying to count the steps he took doing so, but lost count. I guess the refs did too, and let it go. Dionte Bostick laid one in for the Aggies to make it 14-7. Jayden Walker for A&M banked in a 3. I don’t think he called it, but it still counted. A&M then made a layup and Nate Tshimanga took the foul. The crowd booed the officials for it.
Coach Hooten is fun to watch on the sidelines. He’s a bundle of energy running up and down his lane. I saw him grab Zawdie Jackson and literally shove him over to the Scorer to check in. (I’m pretty sure Zawdie wasn’t that reluctant to play.) On court, Garry Clark hit a 3 for A&M and suddenly the score was 16-15 Aggies with 13’ left. Bostick made a layup and Emmanuel got a basket with a spin move in the lane to increase the lead to 20-15
The Aggies then came up empty on their next three trips. Thankfully, A&M wasn’t able to capitalize on it. The Aggies went ahead and took a timeout. In the break, Molly Kaiser from the Women’s team was brought back out on court. She was honored as the C-USA Player of the Week, in addition to being the Scholar Athlete of the Year. She’s got a high GPA and is working on an MBA. And I was impressed with just the 35 points in last week’s game.
Another Aggie missed shot led to an A&M layup to make it 20-17 with 10’ left. Aggie Edward Nnamoko was fouled and made both of his foul shots. Jack chastised Anita for her bias against big men making free throws. (Ed is 6’10.”) Cook was blocked on a shot, but Carl made a jumper to make it 24-19 with 7’ left. Timeout.
The Sundancers performed in the break. They looked good. Jack reported that the Aggies were shooting 47% and were up 14 to 7 in rebounds. Carl knocked down a 3 back in play to make it 27-19 Aggies with 6’ left. Anita commented on the guys’ all wearing low-top shoes. She couldn’t imagine playing basketball without some ankle support.
Zawdie was fouled and converted on a one-and-one. Aggie Jaden Harris grabbed a loose ball and poured in a jumper. Peter made a rebound and laid it back in. The Aggies were looking good up, 33-23, with maybe 4’ left in the half.
Dad grunted and stood up at this point and announced that we were leaving. I apologized to Beverly and said that we had to go, because it was past dad’s bedtime. He did not appreciate that comment. In fairness, dad said his main problem was that the Pan-Am seats were bothering his back. I have offered to bring a cushion for him, but he won’t have it.
As predicted, we had no trouble getting out of the parking lot and dad delivered me back home. Frankly, I was a bit unhappy, because I was enjoying the game. I don’t have much opportunity to see the Men play. When I saw them two seasons ago, they were terrible, so it was good to see them playing well. I turned on the radio at home to keep listening to the game. It was 48-32 Aggies at the half. This was sort of the best case scenario. I thought going into this that the Aggies would be up big by this point, and I wouldn’t be missing much by not being there for the rest of the game.
Halftime
Soccer Coach Rob Baarts was there at the game and was interviewed by Jack. He’d brought the team to respectability in his tenure and they’d had the biggest ticket sales ever this season. Jack didn’t ask him, but he was clearly worried that Coach Baarts is going to depart for greener (more money) pastures.
In the Football pregame on the weekend, AD Moccia was also concerned about keeping him. Aggie Football was playing Texas A&M and not the Corpus Christi one. (I think there’s at least three Texas A&M’s.) The Aggies were there for the $1M+ payout to help fund NMSU Athletics. It was reported that 13 to 16 A&M players are making more money in their NIL endorsements than the Aggie Football Coach Tony Sanchez is in salary.
Second Half
I got comfortable and I was sort of watching a TV show, while still listening to the game barely taking any notes. The Aggies were up by 20. They seemed comfortable, too. With about 14’ left in the game, A&M went on a 7-0 run to make it, 69-59. The Aggies called a timeout.
From here, the Aggies went down to a 6-point lead. Cook hit a 3 and made a jumper to keep the lead. A&M was called for goaltending with 1:30 left, but they kept scoring and whittled it down to a 4-point lead. The Aggies missed their next two shots with under a minute left. Carl fouled out. A&M missed both free throws, but got the rebound and a layup.
The Aggies were up by 3 with 19 seconds left. Anita said she couldn’t watch anymore. The Aggies were pressed on the inbounds. Peter fired a baseball pass down court to Bostick for a slam dunk. With 12 seconds left, A&M made a layup and converted on a free throw. The Aggies were only up by 2 with 7 seconds left. Cook was fouled and converted on one of his free throws for a three-point lead. A&M had the last possession. They missed on a three. The ball was laid in inside for 2. Perhaps the player was hoping to be fouled. The Aggies won it by the absolute minimum, 83-82! Whew!
I blame myself. I should have driven myself over, as dad had originally suggested, and stayed for the end of this game. This is what I get for being lazy (and not wanting to fight traffic leaving). Coach Hooten was not angry in the postgame interview. A&MCC had played UTEP and UNM before this game and come back on both of them to make the games close. They’re scrappy.
Islander Isaac Williams led all scorers with 21 points. Jayden Walker had 14 and Garry Clark had 13. A&MCC shot 38%, 32% on 3’s, and 63% on free throws. They had 65 points off their bench to 34 by the Aggies. This is probably why the score was so close.
Dionte Bostick paced the Aggies with 13 points. Four other Aggies were in double figures: Christian Cook had 12 points, Zawdie Jackson and Carl Cherenfant each had 11, and handsome Robert Carpenter had 10 points with 10 rebounds. Emmanuel Tshimanga also had 10 rebounds. The Aggies shot 41%, 31% on 3’s, and 72% from the free throw line. The Aggies have a good group who can score, but they need to be able to lock down on defense better.
The Aggie Men have two upcoming afternoon games on their schedule that dad might be interested in going to. I’d like to see more of them. Maybe my workplace will offer some tickets. Once again, I apologize for these last two recaps. They were really bad. There were too many distractions for me to do a good job.
Quick view on other Aggies Sports
Aggie Volleyball lost in straight sets to Middle Tennessee on Friday, but won in five grueling sets on Saturday. I wonder what happened on Friday. I don’t know. Their tournament starts next week.
As mentioned above, Aggie Football played Texas A&M on Saturday and lost 38-3. It could have been worse. The Aggie defense made two interceptions in the endzone. They had a decent running game on offense, but they just can’t throw the ball effectively. Shiyazh Pete got a mention in the broadcast. At first, they thought he’d committed a false start, but it was actually a neutral zone infraction by A&M and his reaction got the Aggies the call. Jack called him, “Smart.”
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