Georgia coach Mark Fox won the 200th game of his coaching career Saturday night, and it was hard-fought like most have been with the Bulldogs.
Georgia pulled out a 62-50 win over a game Texas A&M squad at Stegeman Coliseum to give Fox the milestone career victory came in his 10th season overall and fifth at Georgia. He’s now 77-73 with the Bulldogs, who improved to 12-10 overall and 6-4 in SEC play.
Sophomore Kenny Gaines, who has been slowed lately by a thigh injury, led Georgia with 14 points. Brandon Morris and Charles Mann each added 10. Donte’ Williams had nine points, nine rebounds and three blocks. It was the Bulldogs’ 11th victory in 13 home games this season.
Jamal Jones led Texas A&M (13-10, 4-6) with 17 points.
Junior forward Nemanja Djurisic injured his right leg with 1:42 to play and had to leave the game. His status was not immediately known.
Georgia led by five with 12:19 to go when Marcus Thornton scored on a dunk off a Cameron Forte feed. Then the Bulldogs’ defense fell asleep as the Aggies scored layups on three consecutive possessions to take a 40-39 lead. It was only the second time A&M had the lead.
The Bulldogs called a timeout, and Gaines entered the game during the break. He immediately made his presence known with a 3-pointer from the left wing. Thirty-five seconds later his dunk after two offensive rebounds got Georgia back ahead 44-40 with 9:26 to go.
Georgia seemed to have seized control in the final five minutes after Mann’s fast-break lay-up gave it a 49-44 lead at the 4:31 mark. But the Aggies were bailed out on a question foul called on Gaines on a Jones 3-point attempt late in the shot clock. Jones made all three free throws to make it a two-point game with 4:20 to go.
The offensive fireworks that the Bulldogs showed against LSU on Thursday night were missing when they tipped off again less than 48 hours later. Georgia shot only 38 percent in the first half against A&M after shooting 65 percent and scoring 48 points in the last half of the win over LSU. The Bulldogs led 25-23 nevertheless.
Frazier came off the bench to relieve the scoreless Mann and made two 3-pointers late in the half. Williams led the Bulldogs with seven points, all on point-blank shots and a free throw.
The Aggies fell behind by seven points with 1:57 remaining when Parker made one of two free throws. But they closed the gap on a fast-break lay-in off a turnover and fairly fortunate buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Jones made the long-range shot off a loose ball after the Bulldogs had rejected two attempts in close.
