COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) ? Texas A&M had trouble shooting free throws for 39 minutes against Army, but finally made a slew in succession with the outcome in the balance.
Aggie guards Fabyon Harris and J'Mychal Reese combined to make six consecutive free throws in the final 43 seconds and Texas A&M prevailed 61-55 over the Black Knights before 6,416 fans in Reed Arena.
Texas A&M, which had lost 53-51 to Southern a week prior in Reed, avoided its second consecutive upset.
"It was a good, gritty win for our team," Aggies coach Billy Kennedy said. "Army has a good team and a good system. They can represent us in war any time, because they fight. . The right guys for us got fouled at the end, because both of those guys (Harris and Reese) are good free throw shooters."
The Black Knights led 55-54 with 1:02 remaining after Ray Turner made his first free throw but missed the second for the Aggies. Texas A&M's Elston Turner came up with the offensive rebound, however, and Army's Dylan Cox fouled Harris on a 3-point attempt from the left side of the arc on the outlet.
Harris, with 43 seconds remaining, made all three of his free throws in lifting the Aggies (9-3) to a 57-55 lead, one they wouldn't relinquish as Cox missed a layup and a 3-pointer down the final stretch.
Texas A&M forward Kourtney Roberson also collected a steal on an errant pass by Kyle Toth with 27 seconds remaining. Reese helped put away the game with three free throws in the final 23 seconds.
"They deserved to win today, and we didn't," said Army coach Zach Spiker, who added he was proud of how hard his 6-6 team played against a Southeastern Conference opponent.
The Aggies only had three offensive rebounds in the loss to Southern, but had 19 against the Black Knights, including five by Andrew Young and four by Roberson. Texas A&M snagged nine offensive rebounds in the first nine minutes, and 10 the rest of the way. The Aggies nearly doubled up Army 19-10 on second-chance points in the six-point game.
"Early on our defense wasn't where it needed to be," Spiker said of the Aggies outhustling the Black Knights following missed Texas A&M shots.
The Aggies and Black Knights had never met prior to Saturday, but Texas A&M owns a 7-0 all-time advantage against Patriot League opponents. Kennedy said so-called easy wins aren't as easy as they used to be.
"You have to be able to win ugly, and we were able to do that," Kennedy said. "Everybody assumes we're supposed to overpower some of these teams, but that doesn't happen very often in college basketball anymore."
Harris led the Aggies with 12 points, and Turner followed with 11. Kyle Wilson paced Army with a game-high 15 points. The Aggies made only 15 of 27 from the free-throw line, but were solid from the 3-point line by sinking 8 of 20.
Texas A&M was also able to finally set aside the disappointment of the two-point setback to Southern, considering the week break between games because of Christmas.
"We were all thinking about that loss," Harris said. "We came back and were all locked in and playing hard, and it paid off."
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