Texas A&M Loses Roland to Injury

SEATTLE -- Texas A&M senior Derrick Roland suffered a gruesome leg injury and was taken from the court on a stretcher early in the second half against Washington (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 22 AP) on Tuesday night.

Roland, one of the leading defenders in the Big 12 Conference and the Aggies' (No. 19 AP) second-leading scorer, crashed hard to the court after jumping under the basket, apparently breaking his lower right leg.

Coach Mark Turgeon ran on the court while play continued at the other end. Roland's teammates were distraught -- leading scorer and fellow senior Donald Sloan buried his head in his jersey and was helped to the bench.

Four University of Washington doctors and trainers rushed to Roland, who remained on his back, arms over his eyes.

After about 10 minutes, he was removed on the stretcher wearing an air cast and loaded onto an ambulance that took him across town to Harborview Medical Center.

Roland, who scored a career-high 21 points earlier this season at Southern Methodist, was alert inside the ambulance. He was holding his head up as an IV was started in his arm and the ambulance drove away from the back of the arena.

Washington went on a 15-4 run to take control of the game after Roland's injury and the delay.

The Aggies are staying in Seattle after the game and are not due to leave until around sunrise Wednesday morning.

AP News

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