 "Photo: Jon Eilts")
After Texas A&M shut down Texas' leading scorer, senior guard A.J. Abrams, junior guard Damion James stepped up with 28 points and seven rebounds to lead Texas past A&M 67-58 on Saturday in Austin.
James scored his first basket with a 3-pointer 48 seconds into the game to give the Longhorns a 5-2 lead.
"I knew when James hit his first couple that gave them an extra scorer," said A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon.
The Aggies held Abrams, who has averaged 16.9 points per game in 2008-2009, to nine points and a field goal percentage of .300.
"Your whole game plan is to stop that kid," Turgeon said about Abrams. "I was proud of our effort there. We did a good job on Abrams. We made him work, and we were really aware of him."
Abrams said he was comfortable with his team compensating for him when defenses focus on shutting him down.
"I don't have a problem with people taking me out there because my teammates will step up and help us win," said Abrams. "I know that I'm not going to get many shots with the way teams are defending, so I just have to knock them down when I can."
Trailing 30-28 at halftime, the Aggies were ready to go for the upset when senior guard Josh Carter hit a jump shot to tie the game at 30-30 to start the second half.
The teams traded scores when the Longhorns pulled out to a 43-37 lead 8:38 into the half. James began a 13-point scoring frenzy in the next 3:43.
He first hit a layup that started a 9-3 run for Texas, then added three free throws, a fast break layup, a jump shot, a fast break dunk and a final jump shot with 7:39 remaining in the half. Texas led the Aggies 54-44, stretching the two-point halftime lead to 10 points.
"I'm just having fun, and we're winning," James said. "If I had done all this and we had lost, I'd have been sad."
A&M was unable to overcome the deficit and dropped its third consecutive game, the Aggies' worst losing streak since falling in a stretch of three games to Oklahoma State, Texas and Nebraska in 2007-2008.
"Our defense was good enough, our rebounding wasn't quite good enough, our execution was great," Turgeon said. "I can live with that effort."
Junior guard Donald Sloan led the Aggies with 17 points and four rebounds, but recorded three turnovers in the game.
The Aggies had slow starts in their first five conference games, but Turgeon said they started the game well, which was something they had been concentrating on all week.
"If we can continue to start games the way we started tonight, I think we'll be alright," Sloan said.
A&M will return to Reed Arena on Wednesday to take on in-state rival Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are 11-8 overall and 1-3 in Big 12 play.
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