The Texas A&M men's basketball team keeps finding ways to win, the mark of a championship team.
B.J. Holmes hit a trio of 3-pointers down the stretch and A&M had a season-best effort at the free-throw line in a 78-71 victory over 20th-ranked Baylor on Saturday at Reed Arena.
A&M was 1 of 14 beyond the arc when the left-handed Holmes took aim with 5 minutes, 19 seconds left in the game. Many in the crowd had to grimace.
Why even attempt a 3? The Aggies were scoring almost at will inside. A&M had hit seven layups, three dunks and nine free throws to whittle a 12-point deficit down to four. The Aggies even managed to rebound and score on a trio of the seven missed 3-pointers during the 22-minute uphill climb against a team that won at Texas last Saturday.
Holmes already had missed a trio of 3-pointers. That wasn't a shocker since he'd missed 32 of 37 from beyond the arc in league play until breaking out with a 3-for-5 effort Wednesday at Missouri, which maybe wasn't a break-out effort after all.
But A&M head coach Mark Turgeon has confidence in the school's all-time career leader in 3-point percentage, and so do his teammates.
"He's our shooter," said senior guard Donald Sloan, who passed the ball to Holmes. "He's our go-to guy when we need a 3. It's been that way since he first got here. Just because he missed a couple -- that won't change it. If he can get the ball with any kind of space, I'm telling him to shoot it every time."
Holmes calmly hit nothing but net to pull A&M within one point at 59-58. Baylor's A.J. Walton matched that 3-pointer 12 seconds later, but back came Holmes with another. And he wasn't done. Holmes delivered a dagger after the Aggies had scored off four straight inside possessions.
Baylor players successfully defended Sloan, whose bounce pass couldn't have hit his teammate in better position to shoot.
"At the end of the game everybody expects Sloan to have the ball," Holmes said. "I think there was maybe three guys on him. He kicked it out to me [and] the ball lit up. And I was like all right I'm gonna shoot it."
Holmes' final 3 pushed A&M's lead to 72-66 as the standing crowd of 13,021 applauded its 5-foot-11 hero. They couldn't have cared less that A&M finished 4 of 18 on 3-pointers -- 22.2 percent, which is more than 10 percent below its season average, which is last in the conference.
The Aggies offset that by outrebounding Baylor by 10, another example of what hustle and determination can do. Baylor was fifth in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-8.8. A&M was relentless inside, often forcing Baylor players who were out of position to foul.
The Aggies made the Bears pay for every foul, shooting a sizzling 84.8 percent from the free-throw line (28 of 33). That was more than 20 percent better than their season average, which ranked 10th in the league.
"Who said we can't shoot free throws?" deadpanned Turgeon, who agonized at times during a 19-of-36 effort in Wednesday night's victory at Missouri.
This time, it was Baylor coach Scott Drew who felt the game slipping away.
"If [Holmes] doesn't hit those 3s, then everything is fine," Drew said. "B.J. hit some deep ones, he definitely earned them."
Holmes saved the longest for last.
"I think I was probably 2 feet out from the regular 3-point line and it was nothing but the bottom [of the net]," a smiling Holmes said.
Senior forward Bryan Davis, who did the majority of the dirty work inside with 22 points and eight rebounds, didn't even let Holmes finish the sentence.
"Your toe almost touched the line, you weren't that far out," Davis said.
It didn't really matter where Holmes was on the court or what happened before that. The Aggies knew that shot was going in, and they were headed toward another gratifying victory.
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