Wade Taylor IV’s 3-point jumper with 2.1 seconds left lifted No. 10 Texas A&M past No. 15 Missouri 67-64 Saturday in Southeastern Conference play in Columbia, Mo.
Pharrel Payne led the Aggies (18-5, 7-3 SEC) with 20 points. Taylor scored 15, Zhuric Phelps added 14 and Henry Coleman III pulled down 16 rebounds.
Tamar Bates scored 16 points for the Tigers (17-6, 6-4), whose 15-game home winning streak ended. Jacob Crews scored 14 points off the bench for Missouri and Mark Mitchell added 12.
The tenacious Aggies held the Tigers to 5-for-21 3-point shooting and blocked six shots.
Texas A&M bolted to a 12-0 lead by pressuring Missouri into turnovers and missed perimeter shots. Phelps led that surge by scoring twice at the rim.
Bates stopped that Aggies run with a 3-point jumper and a fast break layup, but Texas A&M pushed its lead to 18-7.
Crews hit three straight 3-point jumpers to stabilize the Tigers. then Mitchell scored twice inside to tie the game 20.
The Aggies responded with a 12-2 run, with Coleman creating second-chance points with offensive rebounds.
Missouri cut its deficit to seven points late in the first half, but Payne’s dunk off an inbounds play put Texas A&M up 38-29 at halftime.
The Aggies outrebounded the Tigers 19-12 in the first 20 minutes and outscored them 24-8 in the paint.
After Texas A&M extended its lead to 11 points, Missouri cut that lead to 44-41 with Tony Perkins and Mitchell attacking the basket.
Taylor hit a 3-point jumper off Andersson Garcia’s offensive rebound to extend the Aggies’ lead back to eight, but the Tigers surged ahead 53-49 with an 10-0 run fueled by fast-break dunks by Bates and Caleb Grill.
Taylor scored in the lane to put the Aggies up 61-60 with 3:06 left. Bates put Tigers up 64-63 with an alley-oop transition basket with 53 seconds left, but Taylor’s late 3-pointer decided the game.
–Field Level Media
