The Texas A&M men's basketball team defeated Texas A&M-Kingsville, 76-72, Monday night inside Reed Arena.

Seven Aggies made their debut in the Maroon & White, including three freshmen.

Marcus Williams, Tyrece Radford and Hassan Diarra paced the Aggie offense with 13 points each. Radford added a team-high seven rebounds, and Ethan Henderson finished with three blocks.

Nearing the 8:42 mark of the first half and down 24-17, the Aggie offense found its groove and went on an 8-0 scoring run to take a 25-24 lead. After a few back-and-fourth buckets by both teams, the Aggies stringed together a five-point swing to give them a 35-31 advantage with 3:15 left in the half. The Javelinas responded with their own 7-0 run, taking it down the 2:01 mark.

Quenton Jackson followed with a layup before Kingsville responded with a jumper. A&M closed out the half with back-to-back threes, starting with Diarra followed by Radford sinking a deep three as the buzzer sounded to give the Aggies a 43-40 lead.

After a Javelina three, the Maroon & White began the second stanza with a quick 7-0 run over 1:03 to regain and extend the lead, 50-43. The Javelinas clawed back and took the lead, but were met with a five-point swing by the Aggies to recoup a 64-61 advantage with 6:03 remaining. After a few back-and-fourth scores, the game was knotted at 69, but the Aggies pulled away with a 7-0 scoring run over the last two minutes of the game to secure a 76-72 victory.

The Aggies open the regular season Nov. 10 with a 7 p.m. matchup against North Florida at Reed Arena.