Rashaun Agee and Rylan Griffen scored 17 points each as Texas A&M outlasted Texas 74-70 on Saturday in a key Southeastern Conference dustup between the two rivals in Austin, Texas.
The contest was tied at 29 at halftime before the Aggies (14-4, 4-1 SEC) surged to the front by 10 points early in the second half. Texas pulled to within 68-62 when Jordan Pope converted a four-point play with 4:37 left.
Ali Dibba’s layup and a 3-pointer by Jacari Lane, the latter with 3:02 remaining, built the A&M lead to 11 points but the Longhorns made a final surge, drawing to 73-70 on Chendall Weaver’s putback layup with 7.9 seconds to play.
Lane then canned a free throw to close out the game and the Longhorns, as Texas A&M ended an 11-game road losing streak to the Longhorns.
Ruben Dominguez added 10 points and Agee grabbed 11 rebounds for the Aggies, who have won seven of their past eight games.
Pope and Dailyn Swain led Texas with 17 points apiece, with Matas Vokietaitis scoring 14 and Tramon Mark adding 13 points. The Longhorns (11-7, 2-3 SEC) had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Texas opened the game by scoring seven of the first nine points before the Aggies roared back with a 10-2 run, going up 12-9 on a putback dunk by Jamie Vinson at the 10:49 mark of the half. A&M pushed its lead to four points on a Pop Issacs’ layup with 8:37 to play but the Longhorns swung back, retaking the lead at 15-14 when Mark drove the lane for a short jumper 50 seconds later.
Texas expanded the margin to six points after Swain’s free throw with 3:36 to play until halftime but the Aggies answered with a 11-2 run punctuated by a pair of free throws by Lane with 17 seconds left in the half. That was just enough time for Mark to find the space to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer that tied the game at 29 at the break.
Vokietaitis led all scorers with 11 points before halftime while Agee and Dominguez hit for seven each to pace Texas A&M.
A&M roared out of the gate over the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second half, building a 46-36 lead after Dibba’s layup with 15:25 to play.
–Field Level Media
