A&M wins back-and-forth battle- beat Kansas St

[Jimcs50]

A&M wins back-and-forth battle
Mark Janssen Senior Sports Writer
1/7/2007 1:00:34 AM
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. — Kansas State answered, answered, answered and answered again Saturday night, but so did Texas A&M — one more time.
In a game of 12 tied scores and 21 lead changes, two dazzlers on consecutive possessions by A&M's Josh Carter were too much for the Wildcats to overcome before 11,358 at Reed Arena in a 69-65 Aggie victory.

Kansas State coach Bob Huggins didn't fault the effort, but wasn't satisfied.
"They put that scoreboard up there so there's winners and losers," he said.
"You don't get style points, you don't get points for playing hard. We came here to win and we're very disappointed that we didn't win."

Two free throws by David Hoskins gave K-State a 61-59 lead with 4:38 remaining, but Carter, the Big 12's Player of the Week, hit a deep 3-pointer against KSU's 1-3-1 zone for a 62-61 A&M lead.

On A&M's next possession, Carter acrobatically drove from the right wing and scored to make it 64-61.

Carter was also the culprit at the 7:27 mark with K-State leading 55-51. He drilled a trey from the right baseline, was fouled by Lance Harris, and completed the four-point play to knot the game at 55-55.

"That had to be the biggest play," said Hoskins. "You're up by four points and feeling good, and then on one play that's so rare it's a tied game."

A 15-footer by Akeem Wright with 1:07 remaining cut the difference to one, 64-63, but Dominique Kirk, a 58 percent free thrower, swished two straight with 36 seconds left to move the A&M lead back to three.

On the attack from the left wing, K-State's Blake Young dribbled the ball off his left foot for a turnover . "That was a pretty big play," Huggins said. But Aggie sharp-shooter Acie Law missed two freebies with 22 seconds left.

Down, 66-63, Wright drove the left lane for a dunk with 17 seconds left to make it 66-65, but Law was again fouled, and this time made them both with 6.5 seconds left.

"I'm just playing with confidence," Wright said of his pivotal makes down the stretch. "I know this is my last go-round (being a senior) and I'm going to leave it all out there on the floor from here on out."

With K-State still having a chance to tie, Blake Young's looping pass from the baseline intended for Darren Kent was picked off by Joseph Jones, Kirk was fouled, and added a freebie for the four-point victory.

"We came out more aggressive in the second half and did a better job of running offense," Wright said of KSU's 52-percent shooting second half. That followed a 36 percent first-half effort. "We ran offense better that got us the lead, but then did the stupid things to kill us."

Wright's game was a career-high, bettering a 17-point output last year against Colorado. Wright also had eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in 35 minutes of play.

"Akeem played really well, but Akeem has been playing well," Huggins said. "He's done a much better job of playing within himself, and he hit a couple shots today that he normally doesn't hit. He's playing with a lot of confidence."

"That was an awfully good win," said A&M coach Billy Gillispie, who saw the No. 11 Aggies' record improve to 13-2. "It wasn't pretty, but any time you win in the Big 12 it's big."

Huggins said the opposite of that is true, as well.

"You never play a game not to win," he said of his 10-5 team. "If you're not supposed to win, you need to just stay home and forfeit."

Joining Wright in twin figures were Hoskins with 11 and Clent Stewart with 10. Freshman Luis Colon added six points, hitting all three of his shots.

A&M had four twin-figure scorers with Law's 18 being high, followed by Jones' 17.

Kansas State will host Texas Tech in an ESPN "Big Monday" telecast on Monday at 9 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. The Red Raiders, coached by Bob Knight, the winningest coach in NCAA history, are 12-4 following Saturday's 68-54 victory over Oklahoma.

It will be KSU's first-ever appearance on "Big Monday." Huggins is 0-2 in games against Knight.

[Jimcs50]

I knew with Huggins now at K St, the Aggies would have to win ugly, as he coaches the way Billy does. and that is ball hawking defense with induces a lot of turnovers.

The arena was the loudest it has been all year and I was nervous the whole game, but I knew that the Aggies would find a way to prevail, and in Carter, they found the plays. That 4 pt play really got the crowd on their feet and we stayed standing up the last 7 mins after that....it was great college ball, and it really makes me forget about our Spurs' travails.

[K-State Spur]

Well played Aggies. Our biggest concern is with Bill Walker's knee at the moment, yet Cats looked like they might eek one out there a couple of times, but the Ags always had an answer.

[johngateswhiteley]

Well played Aggies. Our biggest concern is with Bill Walker's knee at the moment, yet Cats looked like they might eek one out there a couple of times, but the Ags always had an answer.

the important thing to remember is that A&M is for real and k-state is not. j/k i was impressed with k-state, Huggins has these guys playing hard...plus, you got that win over USC...so A&M had to beat you!

[Jimcs50]

Well played Aggies. Our biggest concern is with Bill Walker's knee at the moment, yet Cats looked like they might eek one out there a couple of times, but the Ags always had an answer.

I think he will be just fine....it looked more like he landed on the knee causing more of a bruise to me.

You team will win most home games in Big 12 and a fair share of road games. I look for them to finish in top 5.

[Extra Stout]

A&M runs into a real team... and has to sweat it out. I question whether the #11 ranking is justified. We'll see as the Big 12 schedule unfolds.

[Jimcs50]

A&M runs into a real team... and has to sweat it out. I question whether the #11 ranking is justified. We'll see as the Big 12 schedule unfolds.

They ran into a team that plays like they do, and that was why they had to eek out a win. They will beat most teams that play average defense.

Time will tell if their ranking is justified. Their game at UCLA should tell you something though.

[rfbulletdude]

A&M runs into a real team... and has to sweat it out. I question whether the #11 ranking is justified. We'll see as the Big 12 schedule unfolds.

Your right, losing by one point to UCLA (number one at the time) on the road does not justify them being ranked in the top ten. Neither does beating Auburn for their worst home loss (the same Auburn team that lost three close games to OSU, Pitt, and Wisconsin - all top ten teams). Beating Winthrop convincingly did not help either. Winthrop made it to the tourney the last two years, and their only losses this season are to ranked teams (A&M handing them their biggest loss). A&M should NOT be ranked.

Get the F&*k out of here. The only point you could make is them losing to LSU. However, this was a mistake in scheduling. A&M had all easy teams leading up to a tough away game. A&M should have scheduled some tougher teams before the LSU game.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

A&M runs into a real team... and has to sweat it out. I question whether the #11 ranking is justified. We'll see as the Big 12 schedule unfolds.

Gimme a break. We played #1 UCLA in their backyard toe to toe.

We smoked Winthrop, who played to within 7 of UNC (at UNC), and also went down to the wire with Wisconsin. Not to mention the aforementioned Auburn road game.

The Ags didn't play that well, KSU plays some scrappy D, and we still won.