COLLEGE STATION -- Joseph Jones scored a game-high 17 points to lead No. 16-ranked Texas A&M to a 71-62 exhibition victory against Tarleton State on Monday night at Reed Arena.

The game was the final exhibition for both teams. The Aggies close their exhibition slate with a 2-0 record. Tarleton was 1-1, including a 95-85 win at Baylor on Friday.

Tarleton State jumped out to an early 13-6 lead less than four minutes into the game, but scored just nine points the rest of the half. A&M took a 31-22 lead into halftime.

The Aggies led by as many as 15 points in the second half.

Josh Carter added 13 points for the Aggies. Bryan Davis scored 12 and Derrick Roland contributed 10.

Jefrey Henfield, a transfer from New Mexico, led the Texans with 16 points.

The Aggies open the regular season on Friday against McNeese State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.

POSTGAME QUOTES:

Tarleton Coach Lonn Reisman: “I take nothing away from A&M. They have an outstanding basketball team, and they were everything that their film showed that they were. They drove the ball down the court better as the game progressed.”

A&M Coach Mark Turgeon: “We were a lot better in this game than last. The last game we looked like we haven’t been coached. We got a little tired late in the game, but that comes from our guys working our tail off the last two days. I was afraid that I worked them a little to hard, but we came out and responded very well. Our rebounding was less than stellar. I was a little disappointed in our rebounding. We should be getting more offensive rebounds when we are missing shots as consistently as we were in the first half. This team is wearing me out on rebounding. I’m stressing to them everyday in practice how important it is to get those rebounds. We are too big and physical of a team to not win the rebounds. We are a deep team right now with a lot of potential. Our rotation right now looks like it is going to be about nine deep, with eight and nine not getting much playing time depending on game situations."

A&M Forward Joseph Jones: “We tend to become more timid, defensively, at certain points in the game. We need to work on playing hard every minute of the game.”

A&M Guard Josh Carter: “Things went more smoothly, offensively, than they have been. We are starting to get used to the new system and we are fitting into it very well. The difference between this game and last game is that we started playing defense. I think the second half was some of the best defense we have played as a team.”