Bucky Ball's debut in Aggieland is a success

COLLEGE STATION — Bucky Ball’s debut in Aggieland was fast, frenetic and occasionally bordering on out of control, but it was fun. And successful.

“First game of the year, could’ve been worse. Could have been better,” coach Bucky McMillan said. The win was the first of McMillan’s career at Texas A&M and the 100th of his coaching career.

Spanish import Ruben Dominguez led Texas A&M with 18 points as five Aggies scored in double figures and 12 players had at least 2 points as A&M (1-0) beat Northwestern State 98-68 before a crowd of 7,517 at Reed Arena. 

“We great,” forward Rashaun Agee said after the game. 

The Aggies never trailed in the game, as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead out of the gate. N.C. State transfer Marcus Hill scored the first two points of the McMillan era from the free throw line, a positive sign of things to come as the Aggies would break with the recent tradition of free throw futility and made 17 of 23 attempts at the stripe. Agee (13 points) had the hot of scoring the first basket of the season, while Jacari Lane (12 points, 3-6 3-pointers) hit the first triple of the year.

The Demons kept things close for the first few minutes of the game, but A&M started to extend its lead once Dominguez and point guard Josh Holloway (13 points, 4 assists) entered at the 16:04 mark of the first half. Holloway scored his first points as an Aggie on a layup to make the score 13-8, then Dominguez hit his first shot as an Aggie, a 3-pointer, to put A&M up 16-8.

“I thought Josh Holloway was really good in that game,” McMillan said. “Ruben Dominguez played like a pro. He let the game come to him.”

After Agee scored 6 of A&M’s next 10 points at close range, Dominguez went on a shooting spree. He hit another three, got fouled on a 3-pointer and made three free throws, then hit another 3 and got fouled to make it a four-point play. 

“I love to play fast, sharing the ball. It’s not how everybody plays, and we try to get other teams into our game and they don’t know how to do that,” Dominguez said.

After Pop Isaacs (6 points) made his first basket as an Aggie from beyond the arc and Lane had another four-point play, the Aggies were up 54-29.

Northwestern State had a short run to make the score 56-35 at the half, but A&M hit the gas to start the second half to stretch their lead further. Dominguez hit another 3 to start the second stanza, then Freddy Federiko (8 points, 8 rebounds) scored on a dunk and added a free throw to make it 62-37. 

Northwestern State cut A&M’s lead to 20 at 73-53 with 12:49 remaining, but a 13-0 run that included 3-pointers from Holloway and Rylan Griffen (13 points) put the game away.

“There was a lull in that game for about eight minutes, if you just picked apart 40 minutes, or just some kind of lull there. And we got to get to where we play that for 40 minutes of just high intensity, high pressure defense and offense,” McMillan said.

The loudest roar of the night was reserved for forward Chris McDermott (2 points), the sole returning player from last year’s team, when he entered the game with 2:10 remaining. He missed a huge dunk attempt, but was able to grab an offensive rebound and a putback to the delight of the Reed Rowdies.

After several years of shooting struggles, the Aggies shot 49% from the field, 36% from 3-point range (11-31) and made 17 of 23 free throws. A&M also grabbed 44 rebounds — 17 offensive — and forced 16 Northwestern State turnovers.

“We’re relentless,” Agee said. “We don’t want a team to feel comfortable.”

The game was the first of three the Aggies will play in the opening week of the season. With the opener down, McMillan did allow for a bit of satisfaction to seep into his final comments.

“We got better tonight, that’s for sure,” he said.