No. 23 Texas A&M holds off Nebraska
March 11, 2010
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—Donald Sloan scored 23 points and Bryan Davis had a keythree-point play at the 1:01 mark, enabling No. 23 Texas A&M to stave offupset-minded Nebraska 70-64 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament onThursday.
Nebraska, trailing all game while trying to become the first No. 12 seed inBig 12 history to win two tournament games, cut the lead to 62-58 with 1:35 lefton Sek Henry’s 3-pointer.
Davis then managed to get behind the Nebraska defense for a layup, wasfouled by Jorge Brian Diaz and make the free throw to make it 65-58.
In Friday’s semifinals, the Aggies (23-8) get a rematch with No. 1 Kansas,which beat them last month 59-54.
The Huskers (15-18), who lost all but two of their 16 regular-seasonconference games but beat No. 5 seed Missouri in the first round, will sit outthe NCAA tournament for the 12th straight season.
Anderson had 16 points for the Huskers, Diaz 14 and Sek 13.
Khris Middleton had 17 for the fourth-seeded Aggies, including two key freethrows with 28 seconds to go after Brandon Richardson’s two free throws had cutthe lead to 66-62.
About midway through the second half, Sloan’s free throw gave the Aggies aseemingly comfortable 49-36 advantage. But Lance Jeter scored four quick pointsand the Huskers went on an 11-0 run, slicing the lead to 49-47 when Andersonmade a 3-pointer at the 9:02 mark.
After an A&M timeout, Sloan’s basket stopped the drought and a few minuteslater, B.J. Holmes’s 3-pointer made it 54-49.
Sloan’s 3-pointer put the Aggies on top 57-53 after the Huskers, trailing by13 in the second half, cut it to 54-51 on two straight baskets by Diaz, their6-foot-11 freshman.
Ryan Anderson came right down court and scored for Nebraska, cutting thelead to 57-55. Then Khris Middleton made a 3-pointer, Sloan rebounded Anderson’smissed 3-pointer and came back and dropped in a layup for a 62-55 advantage.
The Aggies, headed for a school-record fifth straight NCAA tournamentappearance, scored the game’s first eight points and never trailed even thoughthe Huskers shot 50 percent.
Sloan, with 12 points in the first half, made a 3-pointer for an 8-0 leadwhich reached 27-15 before A&M settled for a 37-28 halftime advantage on Sloan’s3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Nebraska’s Brandon Richardson who had 19 points in the victory overMissouri, played just 9 minutes in the first half and did not even take a shot.He got his first points on a 3-pointer early in the second half and finishedwith four points.
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