No. 6 Texas A&M 70, Oklahoma 61

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) _ Acie Law wasn't that excited about scoring 12 points in the final four minutes to secure No. 6 Texas A&M's 70-61 win over Oklahoma on Saturday. <br/><br/>He thought

Saturday, January 27th 2007, 10:07 pm

By: News On 6

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) _ Acie Law wasn't that excited about scoring 12 points in the final four minutes to secure No. 6 Texas A&M's 70-61 win over Oklahoma on Saturday.

He thought such a performance should not have been necessary.

``We didn't play well today,'' Law said. ``It shouldn't have came down to that point where I needed to score those kind of baskets at the end of the game. We should have been playing better at the beginning.''

Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 20 points and Law added 19 to help the Aggies snap a 14-game losing streak to the Sooners. The victory was Texas A&M's 19th straight at home.

Oklahoma (11-8, 3-4 Big 12) cut the lead to two twice in the second half. The second time, a pair of free throws by Nate Carter made it 53-51 with about five minutes left, but A&M (17-3, 5-1) answered with a quick jumper by Dominique Kirk.

Then Law took over. He made three free throws and a basket before dazzling the crowd with an off-balance layup that drew a foul. He hit that free throw and added two more to stretch the lead to 65-53. Law added a pair of free throws with 52 seconds remaining.

``He could play better from start to finish,'' Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said. ``He's awfully good in crunch time and you wouldn't trade that for anything, but I think he could be a little bit more assertive and aggressive. Instead of scoring 19 points, I believe he could score 34 if his mind-set was changed a little bit.''

The Aggies were down by one at halftime but outscored Oklahoma 7-2 in the opening minutes of the second half to take a 35-31 lead. They never trailed again.

``They made some plays down the stretch _ some tough plays _ and Law was a little bit too much for us down the stretch,'' Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said.

Neither team made a basket for a 4-minute stretch midway through the second half until Law's layup with 7:26 to go ended the drought. Longar Longar scored the Sooners' first basket in more than five minutes with his layup with 6:14 left.

The Sooners shot just 34 percent, but stayed in the game by making 19 of 21 free throws. Carter led Oklahoma with 19 points and made all 13 of his free throws. Austin Johnson added 10 points.

``We're hurt,'' Capel said. ``We felt like this was a game we had a chance to win.''

A&M, which leads the nation in defensive field-goal percentage, has held 31 straight teams to less than 50 percent shooting _ the nation's longest streak.

It was A&M's first win over Oklahoma since 1998 and just its second in the 27-game series.

Oklahoma, which led by as many as seven points in the first half, was ahead 29-28 at halftime. At one point in the first half, Gillispie was so disgusted with the play of his starters that he took them all out of the game. Most of them returned less than two minutes later.

``Coach was trying to send a message to get something going and get a spark in our team,'' said Law, who had just three points in the first half.

Gillispie got his first technical of the season when he fell to the ground and remained sprawled on his back near the bench for a few seconds after Joseph Jones was called for a charge late in the first half.

``It was stupid,'' Gillispie said. ``That never helps you. Not smart. (I) just gave them two points. That's worse than giving up a layup. I definitely deserved it.''

Capel, in his first year as Oklahoma's coach, also drew a technical. His came in the second half when he argued a no-call.

Josh Carter added 13 points for A&M, making both of his 3s and all five free throws. Jones, who averages 13.6 points per game, had seven points and seven rebounds.