Aggies go on 31-6 run in second half

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Antoine Wright carried the scoring

load for Texas A&M in the first half. Joseph Jones took over from

there.

Wright scored 29 points -- 22 in the first half -- and Jones had

16 in the second half to give Texas A&M a 85-63 win over Texas Tech

Saturday.

"In the second half, we played inside out and were able to make

some shots," said Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie. "Antoine

Wright was fantastic in the first half. But that's what you expect

out of him."

Texas A&M (18-7, 7-7 Big 12) led 52-51 before outscoring Tech

19-2 over the next seven minutes capped by Wright's putback layup

with 6:20 remaining.

The record A&M crowd of 13,136 taunted Tech coach Bobby Knight

throughout the timeout that followed. Knight was so upset that he

spent the timeout jawing with the officials.

"They weren't an easy team to play at home and they certainly

weren't easy here," Knight said. "They got a lead and increased

it and never looked back and gave us a chance to get back into

it."

The victory gives Texas A&M its first-ever three game winning

streak in Big 12 play. It's also Texas A&M's biggest win over the

Red Raiders in more than 20 years and its first over Tech in five

tries.

Texas Tech (17-8, 9-5) led by one at halftime and neither team

got ahead by more than a basket until Chris Walker's 3-pointer with

13:30 left put the Aggies ahead 50-47. A basket by Martin Zeno just

seconds later cut the lead back to one before a bucket by Wright

started the run.

Wright made his seventh 3-pointer of the night during the run,

but the inside play of Jones sparked the Aggies offense during that

stretch.

The 6-foot-9 freshman, who was scoreless in the first half, had

14 points in the game's final 12 minutes and put an exclamation

point on his performance with a two-handed dunk that drew a foul

with 1:53 left.

"We had no inside opportunities in the first half," Gillispie

said. "We made a more conscious effort to get the ball inside in

the second half. It scared me because we shot 13 three-point shots

in the first half and that's basically all the offense we had

going."

In the final seconds of the game, the raucous crowd encouraged

Wright to stay at A&M next season instead of entering the NBA

draft, chanting "one more year."

"This season is not over," Wright said. "When the season is

over, I'll think about that. I'm just playing on a game-to-game

basis."

Texas Tech didn't score a field goal for an eight minute span

late in the second half. The Red Raiders were led by Zeno with 16

points and Jarrius Jackson with 14.

The A&M defense, led by Wright, stifled the Red Raiders' usually

potent offense in the second half. Entering the game, Texas Tech

was averaging a Big 12-best 80.7 points per game.

"They played some real good defense," said Tech forward

Devonne Giles. "We didn't do a good job of cut and screening and

moving people around."

Acie Law added 12 points and had seven assists and Bobby Leach,

in his final home game, added 11 points and also had seven assists.

Wright kept the Aggies in it early, scoring 14 of A&M's first 17

points and hit his sixth 3 of the half to give A&M a 34-32 lead. He

was 7-of-8 from 3-point range and his seven 3s ties a record for

most in a Big 12 game this season.

"The game plan definitely wasn't to take threes," Wright said.

"But I hit a couple of them. Coach did say one of them was a bad

shot, but the rest were good so keep shooting."

Jackson answered with a 3-pointer of his own on the next

possession, backpedaling down the court with his shooting hand

still in the air.

Led by Gillispie, the Aggies have had a basketball renaissance

at a school known more for its football team and numerous

traditions. With the win, he tied F.D. Steger (1912-15) and Shelby

Metcalf (1963-64) for the best start for a first year coach at

Texas A&M.