No. 8 Texas A&M 67, No. 12 Oklahoma St. 49

Saturday, January 20th 2007, 9:43 pm

By: News On 6

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Acie Law had 16 points, Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 14 despite having to twice sit down with injuries, and No. 8 Texas A&M beat 12th-ranked Oklahoma State 67-49 on Saturday night.

It is Texas A&M's first win over a ranked opponent this season and its ninth straight victory since losing to then top-10 teams LSU and UCLA in consecutive games in early December.

The Aggies, who never trailed, also got their 18th straight home win in front of a school-record crowd of 13,187, and it was their 11th Big 12 win in a row, also an A&M record.

Kavaliauskas was forced to the bench in the 1st-half after he was hit hard in the face but he soon returned. Midway through the 2nd-half he crashed to the court after a violent collision with Oklahoma State's Marcus Dove and had to be helped off the court. That time he was back in a couple of minutes.

Texas A&M (16-2, 4-0 Big 12) led by as many as 15 in the 1st-half and 10 at halftime but Oklahoma State went on a 9-2 run to open the 2nd-half and cut the lead to 40-37.

Oklahoma State (16-3, 2-2) wouldn't get any closer though as the Aggies tightened their stifling defense and added 8 points while holding the Cowboys to just 2. They ended that run and regained their comfortable lead on a monster dunk by Joseph Jones that made it 48-39 with about 9 minutes left. Jones finished with 13 points.

Texas A&M went on a 10-0 run late in the game to stretch the lead 64-46.

The Aggies, who entered the game allowing the second-fewest points in the country, held Oklahoma State to its lowest score of the season. Texas A&M's defense often left the Cowboys frustrated and they shot just 33 percent.

After the Cowboys missed 4 shots in a row during one stretch in the 2nd-half, first-year coach Sean Sutton threw his hands in the air and turned away from the court as if he couldn't stand to watch any longer.

JamesOn Curry had 20 points and Mario Boggan added 11 for the Cowboys. Boggan got a technical foul with about 2 minutes left when he grabbed Kavaliauskas' jersey and wouldn't let go as he tried to run down the court.

Texas A&M is the only team undefeated in Big 12 play after Texas Tech's win over No. 5 Kansas 69-64 earlier Saturday.

Law scored 11 of his points in the 2nd-half after playing just 8 minutes in the 1st-half after getting two early fouls.