Texas A&M Knocks Oklahoma Out Of Big 12 Tournament

News9.com

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – OU may have won a tiebreaker against the Aggies earlier in the week, but Texas A&M got the last laugh.

The second-seeded Sooners fell to the third-seeded Aggies 79-66 on Friday at Municipal Auditorium, eliminating Oklahoma from the Big 12 tournament.

The fact that the two teams met was only fitting, considering their historic tiebreaker to determine seedings.

OU and Texas A&M rattled through the first four tiebreaker categories dead even, resulting in the primitive practice of simply drawing a name out of a hat.

The Sooners picked up the second seed from the draw, and the No. 14 Aggies got the third seed, both with 11-7 conference records.

But Friday's game was an opportunity for A&M to get even, and it certainly did.

The Aggies held OU to 37.7 percent shooting in Friday's loss and outrebounded them 38-27.

Texas A&M moved to its fifth straight Big 12 championship game and it was the fourth straight year the Aggies have knocked OU out of the Big 12 tournament.

OU trailed most of the game but stayed close at least through the first half, trailing 40-35 at the break.

But partway into the second, A&M came up with a 17-5 run and was able to keep the Sooners at arm's length for the rest of the game.

Whitney Hand has a season-high 24 points for the Sooners, once again playing all 40 minutes in the game. Aaryn Ellenberg had 13 points and Sharane Campbell scored 11.

Texas A&M will face undefeated Baylor in Saturday's Big 12 championship game.