KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Henry Coleman III scored 24 points, Wade Taylor IV had 23 and No. 12 Texas A&M beat Penn State, 89-77, in the opening round of the ESPN Events Invitational on Thursday.
Tyrece Radford added 14 points for the Aggies (5-0), who lost to the Nittany Lions, 76-59, in the first-round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve created a culture, a working culture,” said Coleman, who also had six rebounds.
Kanye Clary led Penn State (4-1) with 19 points, and Puff Johnson added 15.
Texas A&M outscored Penn State, 56-38, in the paint and 23-7 on second-chance points.
“My teams usually don’t get punished in the paint,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said. “It’s something we have to get better at.”
Penn State got within three several times during the second half and trailed 75-70 when Taylor hit a long-range 3 and Coleman had an inside basket to put A&M up 80-70 with three minutes to play.
“We didn’t get enough stops,” Rhoades said. “We didn’t get 50-50 balls. That was the difference in the game.”
Coleman had 16 second-half points, including a pair of 3-point plays after Penn State had cut its deficit to three.
Radford had 10 points as Texas A&M grabbed a 39-32 halftime lead. The Aggies scored 24 points, mostly on driving layups, in the paint and nine from the free-throw line.
“I think that a lot of what’s happened on game day has been the reps that have led up to game day from practicing the things that we think translate the most to the game,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said.
Penn State faces Butler (3-2) in Friday’s consolation round.
