Bob Knight Notches Career Win #900 as Tech Upsets #9 A&M
By: Rhett Kleinschmidt
Updated: February 13, 2008
Lubbock, TX (Sports Network) - Martin Zeno scored 19 points and dished out five assists as Texas Tech shocked No. 10 Texas A&M with a 68-53 victory, giving head coach Bob Knight his 900th career win.
The all-time winningest coach in the history of men's Division I basketball, this was Knight's second try at the mark. The Red Raiders (10-6, 1-1 Big 12) came up short in their first attempt to record the win for Knight, dropping a 74-55 decision at Oklahoma State in the conference opener for both teams Saturday.
Knight becomes just the third coach to reach the 900-win plateau, along with Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt (959) and former Texas women's coach Jody Conradt (900).
"You folks being here, and seats being full for a change, it really made a difference tonight," said Knight, who addressed the raucous crowd before leaving the court.
Trevor Cook added a career-high 14 points and Damir Suljagic finished with 10 for the Red Raiders, who have won four of five.
Josh Carter and Joseph Jones each finished with 11 points for the Aggies (15-2, 1-1 Big 12), who had an eight-game winning streak snapped and were coming off an 86-69 win against Colorado on Saturday.
The game was anything but an offensive showcase for the Aggies in the first half, as they set a season-low with just 17 points and shot only 23.1 percent from the field.
A&M went up 9-3 early on, but the Red Raiders slowly and methodically chipped away at the deficit. It was 12-10 a bit later, until a jumper by John Roberson tied it with 8:49 left.
Texas Tech outscored the Aggies 20-5 the rest of the way behind a balanced attack. Cook set the wheels in motion with a three-pointer at 8:11, then later converted a short jumper and a free throw to build a four-point edge.
Carter stopped the bleeding for A&M, but Tech answered with a dominant 14-1 run, capped by a Charlie Burgess layup with nine seconds remaining for a 32-17 cushion at the break.
The Aggies opened on a 14-2 run to start the second half, but the Red Raiders quickly responded to put the game out of reach.
Alan Voskuil converted from long range, and off a Carter miss for the Aggies, followed with a quick jumper to rebuild the double-digit margin. Dominique Kirk's trey briefly interrupted the spurt, but the Red Raiders reeled off 17 of the next 18 points, capped by a pair of Zeno free throws.
Burgess added a tip shot with a little more than a minute left to make it 68-48. A&M then scored the final seven points, but it was too little, too late.
(courtesy: the sports network)
