Reserves rise up when A&M needs them most

Never underestimate hard work and determination.

The Texas A&M men's basketball team resembled a high school team Saturday, and that was a good thing.

Injuries to starters Dash Harris and Khris Middleton forced the Aggies to use reserves who might not be good enough to win an intramural championship, but they played hard enough and smart enough to help the Aggies to a 76-61 Big 12 victory over Oklahoma State.

A&M's best unheralded hero was senior walk-on guard Alex Baird who 21 played minutes. Baird had played only six minutes in his career spread out over eight games before Saturday. In other words he played when most fans were driving home.

Baird entered the game midway through the first half with A&M trailing 23-16 and played much bigger than his 6-foot-1 frame. He didn't score -- heck, he didn't even attempt a field goal -- but without his effort the Aggies don't win.

He had four rebounds, three assists and one steal but more importantly no turnovers as he gave A&M a calming force at point guard.

A&M managed to beat Oklahoma in overtime last Saturday without Middleton because senior point guard Harris played 43 minutes. He had only one turnover to go with six assists and a career-high-tying 14 points.

But without him many thought the Aggies were doomed to lose to Oklahoma State, a team coming off a 79-72 victory over second-ranked Missouri. That's the same Missouri team that built a 19-point halftime lead against A&M on Jan. 19 en route to an easy 70-51 victory -- and A&M had Middleton and Harris that game. OSU frustrated Missouri starters Phil Pressey, Matt Pressey, Marcus Denmon and Kim English who combined to shoot only 34.1 percent from the floor -- 14 of 41 -- with seven turnovers.

A&M's reserves on Saturday shot 64.7 percent -- 11 of 17 -- with only two turnovers.

Baird's ability to direct traffic allowed Elston Turner to return to shooting guard where he produced 23 points and five assists. Turner had four turnovers as OSU built a seven-point lead before Baird came off the bench.

Baird along with redshirt freshman forward Daniel Alexander, senior transfer Zach Kinsley and junior forward Ray Turner got a deserving standing ovation with 3:51 left when A&M's bench was announced as the player of the game.

St. Joseph Health System fittingly sponsored the game because the bench's play brought smiles to the faces of Harris and Middleton while they limped around during postgame celebrations.

"Everyone who played gave us something," A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said.

And the bench mainly brought energy, which seemed to permeate to the starters and even into the crowd.

OSU head coach Travis Ford, who played at Kentucky, gave the Aggies sincere praise perhaps twinged with a bit of envy, for Ford came in missing a couple key players. It's nothing as potentially crippling as A&M's losses, but other than Markel Brown, Ford's players didn't step up. Brown did, coming off the bench for 19 points. That was six less than the Aggie subs who also added 12 rebounds.

"A&M just outplayed us," Ford said. "They were desperate for a win, kind of like we were the other night. They had a lot of hunger and fight to them. It was all about them. It was a good win."

It sure was. Maybe not good enough to make the fans rush the court the way the OSU faithful did after beating Missouri, but it did put a twinkle in the eyes of A&M's first-year coach who has had to fight through much adversity in laying the foundation for his program while dealing with Parkinson's disease.

"It was one of my better wins," Kennedy said. "When you do the right things, it pays off."

Sounds somewhat high schoolish, but in this case, that's a compliment.

Robert Cessna's email address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.