No. 9 LSU 64, No. 6 Texas A&M 52

Wednesday, December 6th 2006, 6:21 am

By: News On 6

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ Using his muscle under the hoop and finesse from the perimeter, Glen Davis prevented Texas A&M from getting even for a season-ending loss to the Tigers last March.

Davis had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 9 LSU to a 64-52 victory over sixth-ranked Texas A&M on Tuesday night.

``That's my role for this team, to deliver when deliverance is needed,'' said the 6-foot-9, 295-pound Davis, who goes by the nickname, ``Big Baby.''

The Aggies' first loss of the season came against their first ranked opponent. Texas A&M (7-1) won its previous 14 regular-season games, dating back to February.

``They just whipped us,'' Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said. ``They outhustled us. They got the loose balls, they were a step ahead of us in everything we did. Congratulations to them.''

Tasmin Mitchell added 15 points and nine rebounds for LSU (5-1), which led throughout the second half and outrebounded the Aggies 35-24. Garrett Temple had 11 points for the Tigers.

Antanas Kavaliauskas led A&M with 18 points, while Joseph Jones added 12 before fouling out late in the game. Acie Law, averaging 15 points per game coming in, was held to only four.

With a pair of fadeaways and a jumper, Davis helped LSU pull away in the second half.

``It's just a part of my game I've been working on,'' Davis said of scoring from outside. ``That's why coach Brady has no problem with me shooting open shots from there, because he knows I can hit them.''

In other games involving ranked teams, it was: No. 1 UCLA 78, Cal State Fullerton 54; No. 14 Arizona 72, Louisville 65; No. 17 Marquette 65, Delaware State 48; Washington State 77, No. 18 Gonzaga 67; No. 22 Oklahoma State 72, No. 21 Syracuse 68; and No. 24 Xavier 88, Detroit 55.

Tack Minor's twisting layup on a baseline drive put LSU up by as much as 56-41 with 5:52 remaining.

The Aggies made a final surge beginning with Josh Carter's three-point play on a dunk as he was fouled. The play ignited an 11-2 run, capped by Carter's driving layup, that closed the gap to 58-52 with 3:10 to go and prompted LSU to call a time out to regroup.

The Tigers ran down the shot clock before missing their ensuing shot, but Davis squeezed into a crowd underneath to grab the rebound and then surged to the basket with his right hand outstretched to lay the ball in.

``I had a chance to seize the opportunity to get the ball and I did and made the layup,'' Davis said. ``It's just effort. You've got to have effort, have heart, to make something happen.''

No. 1 UCLA 78, Cal State Fullerton 54

Arron Afflalo scored 20 points and Josh Shipp added 16 to help host UCLA pull away.

The Bruins (7-0) defeated their third consecutive Big West opponent, though this one wasn't as lopsided as the wins against Long Beach State and UC Riverside.

Bobby Brown scored 18 points and Scott Cutley added 11 points for the Titans (5-2).

No. 14 Arizona 72, Louisville 65

Ivan Radenovic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Arizona, which overcame a terrible shooting second half for a victory over Louisville in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.

The Wildcats (6-1) had a 44-35 halftime lead then missed 17 of their first 18 shots from the field as they lost, then retook the lead.

Juan Palacios had 15 points for the Cardinals (2-2), who managed to take a 50-49 lead with 13:18 left on a drive by Terrence Williams, but the comeback _ and foul trouble _ seemed to wear down Louisville which was unable to complete a lot of plays inside.

No. 22 Oklahoma State 72, No. 21 Syracuse 68

Mario Boggan had 21 points and eight rebounds and Oklahoma State remained unbeaten by holding off a furious rally by Syracuse in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.

The Cowboys (10-0) kept Sean Sutton's record as a head coach perfect despite blowing almost all of a 13-point lead over the final 3:45.

Demetris Nichols had 26 points for the Orange (7-2), who lost their second straight game.

Washington State 77, No. 18 Gonzaga 67

Derrick Low scored 22 points to help host Washington State (8-1) improve one of the best starts in team history.

Daven Harmeling added 20 points for the Cougars, off to their best start since the 1996-97 season. Washington State overcame poor free-throw shooting to break a seven-game losing streak to Gonzaga.

Josh Heytvelt scored 22 points and Derek Raivio added 21 to lead the Bulldogs (8-2).

Trailing 66-63 with less than 4 minutes left, Washington State outscored the Bulldogs 14-1, including a pair of 3-pointers by Harmeling, the rest of the way.

No. 17 Marquette 65, Delaware State 48

Jerel McNeal scored 16 points to lead four double-figure scorers for host Marquette. It was the 150th career victory for coach Tom Crean, in his eighth season with the Golden Eagles.

No. 24 Xavier 88, Detroit 55

Josh Duncan scored 25 points and led a 3-point flurry that gave host Xavier an emphatic return to the Top 25.

The Musketeers (7-1) are off to their best start in 10 years and returned to the rankings for the first time in more than three years.

Detroit (2-6) was helpless as Xavier powered through the Titans' man-to-man coverage and shot accurately over their zone defenses.