Texas A&M takes Big 12 lead with win over Cowboys
By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer
Lately it seems like the Aggies are setting new marks just about every day.
But to really understand what No. 8 Texas A&M's 67-49 victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State on Saturday meant to the Aggies, all one had to do was look at the faces of the starters standing up next to their coach as the final seconds ticked away.
At that time, Jones didn't know it had put the Aggies in first. He did realize the significance of the victory.
"We know they are a great team and every win in conference is big," Jones said. "They had just beat Texas (105-103 in triple overtime) with a great win so we were very excited to get the win."
The victory, in front of a school-record crowd of 13,187, put the Aggies alone atop the Big 12 standings for the first time ever. Texas Tech's upset of No. 5 Kansas earlier in the day gave the Aggies (16-2, 4-0 in Big 12) the opportunity to end the second week of conference play as the only undefeated team.
No. 12 OSU dropped to 16-3 and 2-2. Both conference losses have been on the road against top 10 teams.
Antanas Kavaliauskas carried the Aggies early, connecting on two shots from the floor. He would have had a chance for two more free throws but he had to leave with a bloody nose after being fouled by Marcus Dove. Beau Muhlbach came in to make the free throws and put the Aggies up 8-3.
A minute after Kavaliauskas returned he strung together six points with two more field goals, one on a dunk, and two free throws.
"Even though Joe only had two attempts in the first half I thought he did a really good job of making them guard him, and Antanas was really good offensively," A&M coach Billy Gillispie said. "And, the other guys did a real good job of moving the ball and getting the ball inside."
The Aggies dominated for most of the first half, pulling ahead by 15 twice, the last time at 35-20. But Oklahoma State's JamesOn Curry, who had a game-high 20, buried two 3-pointers to give the Cowboys hope as they exited for halftime.
That hope grew as OSU narrowed the 38-28 deficit to 40-37 by the 14:35 mark.
The Cowboys' Marcus Dove drove hard to the basket and collided with Kavaliauskas, who was called for a foul. The 6-10 center had to leave the game again after staying down for a couple of minutes and then getting up very gingerly.
Dove missed the two free throws. It was the last time the Cowboys threatened.
Marlon Pompey, who replaced Kavaliauskas, hit a jumper in the paint and then finished a 12-4 run with dunk.
"Marlon was huge. I mean he's a senior, and we need that kind of leadership," Acie Law IV said. "We weren't making many plays and they made a run, and then Marlon made a big dunk and some huge plays on defense, taking some charges."
Law made up for watching most of the first half while in foul trouble by making 11 of the Aggies final 13 points. He finished with 16, while Kavaliauskas and Jones had 14 and 13, respectively.
"I thought we got ourselves back in position at 40-37, and at that point I thought we had a pretty good chance," Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton said. "Marcus Dove misses two free throws and then we had three or four turnovers and they sprinted back out. I just don't think we competed the last 10 minutes."
A&M held the Cowboys to one field goal in the final 14 minutes.
A&M is off to its best start since the 1959-60 season and only once have the Aggies had a better mark at this point in the season. That was in 1920 when they finished 19-0.
"It's nice but we haven't talked about anything. Last year we were 1-3 at this time and this year we are lucky to be 4-0," Gillispie said. "We're grateful to be where we are, and if today was the last day of the season it would be great to be in first place, but there is a lot of basketball to be played."
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NOTES - Law's 16 points moved him into the top 10 at No. 8 on the Aggie list with 1,342. He passed Todd Holloway (1983-'87) and Antoine Wright (2002-05). ... Saturday's game was the first at Reed Arena where both teams were ranked in the top 25. The last time A&M hosted a game in which both teams were ranked was 1979,when No. 11 Texas beat No. 12 A&M at G. Rollie White Coliseum. ... Josh Carter missed all six of his 3-pointers, but led the Aggies with a career high seven rebounds. ... Last time OSU beat a top 10 team on the road was Kansas on Jan. 2, 1958. (35 losses).
What an atmospere we had last night. It reminded me of Spurs' games at the Hemisfair Arena back in the day.
Seriously though, the Aggiies' offense was HORRIBLE....they only won because of defense and hitting their FTs.
If they shoot like this at Texas Tech(who beat Kansas) this week at Lubbuck, the Aggies will lose for sure.
Actually Jim the offense was great in the first half. It bogged down there at the start of the second when the team started settling for the three instead of pounding it inside.
Once they got back to getting it into AK and Jones, it was game over.
For those of us who prefer visual aids...
Code:(8) Texas A&M 4-0 16-2 (5) Kansas 3-1 16-3 Texas Tech 3-1 14-5 (21) Texas 3-1 13-5 Kansas State 3-2 13-6 Oklahoma 3-2 11-6 (12) Oklahoma State 2-2 16-3 Iowa State 2-3 11-8 Nebraska 1-2 12-5 Baylor 1-4 11-7 Colorado 1-4 5-10 Missouri 0-4 11-6
Let me qualify. Their outside shoting was HORRIBLE...even in the first half.
They worked the ball into AK and he was playing great until he got hurt.
If Carter and Kirk shoot 1-11 from the arc against Tech, they will lose.
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