Texas A&M
21-5, 8-4
Oklahoma State
16-10, 4-8
No. 17 Aggies Hold Off Oklahoma State, 67-66
Feb 19, 2011 | Men's Basketball
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - B.J. Holmes hit two key free throws in the final seconds and No. 17 Texas A&M continued its recent dominance against Oklahoma State with a 67-66 victory on Saturday night.
Texas A&M (21-5, 8-4 Big 12) maintained its hold on third place in the conference standings and extended its winning streak to four games. The Aggies have won three straight against Oklahoma State (16-10, 4-8) and four of the last five in the series.
The loss put a damper on Oklahoma State's already tenuous NCAA tournament hopes, and it won't get easier soon for the Cowboys, who visit No. 1 Kansas on Monday.
Reger Dowell scored a career-high 22 points for Oklahoma State and put the Cowboys up 66-65 with two free throws with 17 seconds left. But he fouled Holmes in the backcourt with 15.9 seconds left and Holmes hit both free throws.
The Aggies knocked the ball out of bounds with 2.7 seconds left and Oklahoma State's Matt Pilgrim missed a deep shot from the corner as time expired.
Oklahoma State suffered only its fifth home loss in 45 games during coach Travis Ford's three seasons. Two of those losses have come this season, to the Aggies and to Texas.
Texas A&M beat the Cowboys by 23 on Jan. 13 but it wasn't so easy for the Aggies in the rematch. Neither team led by more than eight points and the game included 13 lead changes and 14 ties.
The Aggies' leading scorer, Khris Middleton, didn't score until 6:35 remained but finished with 12 points, helping keep Oklahoma State at bay in the final minutes.
Oklahoma State played the second half without leading scorer and rebounder Marshall Moses, who a team spokesman said was sick.
The teams combined for 48 fouls - 26 on Oklahoma State, 22 on Texas A&M. The Aggies finished 27 of 35 from the free-throw line, while Oklahoma State was 23 of 29.
In a choppy first half, Oklahoma State had 14 turnovers and was whistled for 16 fouls - including two technicals - but managed a 30-29 halftime lead by going 14 of 15 from the free throw line. Texas A&M was called for 11 fouls.
Ford was slapped with a technical less than 5 minutes into the game and Holmes made both free throws to put the Aggies up 11-4. Over the next 7 minutes, the teams combined for one basket and six points.
A 3-pointer by Dowell with 3:41 left in the first half put Oklahoma State up 23-21 and Page fueled a 7-0 spurt with five points - three off free throws - to make it 30-24.
Three Cowboys - Markel Brown, Jarred Shaw and Roger Franklin - each had three fouls by halftime. Brown received a technical foul after a skirmish with Texas A&M's Nathan Walkup.
Keiton Page added 12 points for the Cowboys while Jean-Paul Olukemi had 11. Pilgrim finished with 9 points and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma State outrebounded Texas A&M 30-22. Texas A&M entered the game eighth in the nation in rebounding margin.
NOTABLES
- Over the last three Big 12 seasons (2009-11), Texas A&M is a combined 16-4 in the back half of the Big 12 schedule (final 8 games of each year) ... the Aggies closed league play 6-2 in 2009, 6-2 in 2010 and are currently 4-0 in 2011 with 4 games remaining.
- Texas A&M won its fourth straight Big 12 game Saturday night ... it is already the fifth time under Mark Turgeon that an Aggie team won at least 4 Big 12 games in a row ... before Turgeon arrived in Aggieland, Big 12 win streak of at least 4 games had happened just three times in school history.
- A&M's win was its eighth in Big 12 play this season, marking the seventh consecutive year that the Aggies have won at least 8 Big 12 games ... A&M had never won more than 6 Big 12 games prior to 2005.
AGGIE TRENDS
- Texas A&M is 17-0 when having the lead with 5 minutes to play (led 57-56).
- A&M is 20-2 this year (85-21 all-time under Turgeon) when holding opponents to under 50 percent shooting ... the Aggies are 19-1 this year when foes shoot under 45 percent (OSU 44.2 percent).
- Texas A&M is 19-1 when it shoots more free throws than its opponent (35 to 29).
- The Aggies have won back-to-back games in which they have lost the rebounding battle (22 to 30).
- When the Aggies total 10 or more assists, the team is 20-2 this year (12).
- A&M is 19-3 this year (81-14 under Turgeon) when holding teams to under 70 points (66).
SERIES NOTES
- The victory was Texas A&M's third in a row against Oklahoma State ... the Aggies swept the regular-season series with the Cowboys for just the second time in school history (1917-18, 1922-23, 2006-07) ... it's also just the third time ever that the Aggies have won 3 in a row against OSU ... Oklahoma State leads the series, 30-16.
- Texas A&M has won 3 of the last 5 meetings between the schools at Gallagher-Iba Arena ... the three victories are the only ones the Aggies have grabbed in the arena's history (OSU leads, 13-3).
INDIVIDUAL
- David Loubeau scored a career-high 22 points on Saturday ... it was the second 20-point game of his career ... Loubeau's previous best was 20 against Alcorn State in the 2009-10 season opener.
- Khris Middleton scored 12 points, all in the second half ... he scored 10 of the Aggies' final 14 points of the game ... Middleton hit double figures for the 22nd time this season and for the 26th time in the last 31 games.
- Naji Hibbert matched a career high with 4 assists.
