TOP 25/SEC MEN

Texas A&M (16-2) pulls away from LSU

Mississippi forward Anthony Perez (13) reacts after being called for a charging foul against South Carolina forward Michael Carrera (24) during overtime of an NCAA college basketball game in Oxford, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016.
Mississippi forward Anthony Perez (13) reacts after being called for a charging foul against South Carolina forward Michael Carrera (24) during overtime of an NCAA college basketball game in Oxford, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016.

NO. 10 TEXAS A&M 71, LSU 57

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Jalen Jones scored 20 points and freshman Tyler Davis tied a season-high with 18 to lead No. 10 Texas A&M to a 71-57 victory over LSU on Tuesday night, extending their winning streak to nine games.

The victory improved the Aggies (16-2) to 6-0 in SEC play, which is their best start to conference play since they won their first seven games in 1993-1994 when they were in the Southwest Conference.

On Tuesday, the lead changed several times throughout the first half and the early part of the second half, and the score was tied at 44-44 with about 15 minutes left.

The Aggies took over, using a 16-3 run to make it 60-47 with about nine minutes remaining. Alex Caruso scored four points in that span and he was under heavy pressure from LSU's Ben Simmons when he passed to Jones, who finished with a two-handed dunk to highlight the run.

Tim Quarterman had 12 points for LSU (11-7, 4-2).

Simmons, LSU's freshman star, entered the game averaging 20 points per games but was held to 10 points with 11 rebounds. Craig Victor added 10 points while dealing with foul trouble for most of the game.

The Aggies haven't lost since Dec. 5, and their winning streak is their longest since the team won 13 consecutive from Nov. 26, 2010 to Jan. 15, 2011.

LSU had three turnovers and went more than five minutes between field goals as A&M built the lead. Simmons made a layup with about 13 minutes left and the next basket for LSU didn't come until Quarterman's layup with less than eight minutes left made it 60-50.

But the Tigers couldn't build on that and A&M used a 6-2 spurt after that to push the lead to 66-52 with 41/2 minutes remaining.

LSU led by two points after a three-pointer by Antonio Blakeney with about 6 minutes left in the first half before A&M scored the next eight points to take a 38-32 lead.

Simmons added two free throws a few seconds later and neither team scored for the rest of the half to leave the Aggies up 38-34.

Keith Hornsby added eight points and four rebounds for LSU. The Tigers made 7 of 10 free throws and were outscored 16-5 on second-chance points.

The Aggies got 42 points in the lane, and Danuel House had 10 rebounds.

The crowd of 13,888 was the largest ever at Reed Arena, topping the mark of 13,717 set in 2010 against Texas.

Up next, LSU visits Alabama on Saturday and Texas A&M hosts Missouri on Saturday.

In other SEC games, Michael Carrera scored 19 points, Laimonas Chatkevicius added 17 and No. 24 South Carolina rallied to beat Mississippi 77-74 in overtime. Mindaugas Kacinas also had 10 points for South Carolina (17-1, 4-1). Stefan Moody scored 24 points for Ole Miss (12-6, 2-4)... Dorian Finney-Smith had 20 points and 13 rebounds, KeVaughn Allen (North Little Rock) added 19 points and Florida (12-6, 4-2) beat Mississippi State (7-10, 0-5) 81-78. John Egbunu added 16 for Florida, including all four of his free throws in the final two minutes. ... Cinmeon Bowers scored 20 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead Auburn (8-8, 2-3) to its second consecutive big victory, 83-77 over Alabama (10-6, 1-3). Auburn defeated Kentucky 75-70 last Saturday.

In other games involving top 25 teams Tuesday, freshman Jawun Evans had 22 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds to help Oklahoma State upset No. 3 Kansas 86-67. Jeff Newberry scored 13 points and Jeffrey Carroll added 11 for the Cowboys, who had lost four consecutive. ... Tre Campbell scored a career-high 21 points — 17 in the first half — and Georgetown’s front line held its own as the Hoyas built a large lead in the second half and held on for an 81-72 victory over No. 5 Xavier. … Melo Trimble scored 18 points, Diamond Stone made a pivotal three-point play with 1:13 left in overtime and No. 7 Maryland squeezed past Northwestern 62-56. The Terrapins (17-2, 6-1 Big Ten) shot 44 percent and were outrebounded 41-31 by the scrappy, hustling Wildcats (15-5, 3-4). … Nic Moore had 23 points and had some part in five consecutive SMU baskets down the stretch as the No. 8 Mustangs remained Division I’s only undefeated team with a 77-73 victory over Houston. … Malcolm Brogdon scored 20 points and Anthony Gill had two big baskets late as No. 13 Virginia squandered most of a 13-point lead and then held on to beat Clemson 69-62. … Ben Bentil scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half, and 16th-ranked Providence rallied late to outlast No. 18 Butler 71-68. Rodney Bullock added 16 points for the Friars (16-3, 4-2 Big East), who improved to 3-1 this season against ranked opponents. … Troy Williams scored 21 points and Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell finished with 16 points and nine assists, helping No. 25 Indiana blow out Illinois 103-69.

SOUTHLAND MEN

HOUSTON BAPTIST 72, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 61

Central Arkansas (2-13, 1-4 Southland Conference) committed 24 turnovers, including 13 in the second half, in a loss to Houston Baptist (11-7, 6-0) on Tuesday night at the Farris Center in Conway. The Bears outrebounded the Huskies 46-29 but allowed Houston Baptist to shoot 48 percent from the floor. Houston Baptist also went 25 of 33 from the free-throw line. Anthony Oduni led Houston Baptist with 20 points and eight assists. UCA was led by Jordan Howard’s game-high 27 points. Mathieu Kamba added 13 points, and Jake Zuilhof grabbed 10 rebounds.

Sports on 01/20/2016

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