Wade Taylor IV scores 15 points and No. 22 Texas A&M beats Wake Forest 57-44

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Wade Taylor IV scored 15 points and Pharrel Payne and Henry Coleman III each added 10 as No. 22 Texas A&M beat Wake Forest 57-44 on Tuesday night.

Hunter Sallis led Wake Forest with a game-high 19 points, and Davin Cosby added 11 points.

Texas A&M (7-2) shot 39% from the floor (19 of 49) and Wake Forest (7-3) shot 28% (17 of 60) from the floor.

The Aggies led 47-42 lead with 6:46 remaining when Taylor stole the ball and Coleman finished the possession with a dunk to give the Aggies to an insurmountable seven-point lead.

Wake Forest also led by seven points a little more than seven minutes into the game before falling behind by halftime. Texas A&M’s Andersson Garcia grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

Takeaways

Texas A&M: The usually-hustling Aggies appeared a bit lethargic after playing three games in the previous week, including an 81-77 victory over Rutgers on Saturday, in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Texas A&M, which won its third consecutive game, took comfort in playing its first home game in 13 days.

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons were unable to carry over the momentum from a 57-51 victory over Minnesota on Friday in the third-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Florida. Sallis got back on track, however, after finishing 1 of 11 from the floor against Minnesota.

Key moment

Taylor banked a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining in the first half to lift the Aggies to a 29-26 lead at the break.

Key stat

The Aggies made 14 of 17 of their free throws for 82%, 14% better than their average entering the game.

Up next

The Aggies face Texas Tech on Sunday in Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena in a neutral-site match between the old Southwest Conference and Big 12 foes. The Demon Deacons host Boston College on Saturday in their ACC opener.

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