Texas A&M got 21 points from Rylan Griffen and 17 from Ruben Dominguez as it controlled the middle 13 minutes of the game on the way to a 96-85 win over Kentucky on Tuesday in a key late-season Southeastern Conference dustup in College Station, Texas.
A&M (20-10, 10-7 SEC) led by a dozen points at halftime after outscoring Kentucky 27-2 over the final eight minutes of the first half. The Aggies then built that margin to 21 with 14:49 to play via a 17-8 run capped by a dunk by Josh Holloway.
The Wildcats fought back, culling the deficit to 88-81 on three free throws by Trent Noah with 1:10 to play. But A&M got five free throws from Pop Isaacs over the final 57 seconds to stoke the lead back to double digits and held sway through the finish line to snap a two-game losing streak.
Both Texas A&M and Kentucky are all but assured of garnering at-large spots in the NCAA Tournament, with the Aggies’ win Tuesday likely getting them over the top.
Rashaun Agee hit for 14 points and Zach Clemence added 13 points, while Isaacs finished with 12 for Texas A&M.
Kentucky’s Otega Oweh led all scorers with 24 points. Mouhamed Dioubate added 19 points for the Wildcats (20-10, 10-7), who had a two-game winning streak snapped.
A jumper by Dioubate at the 15:32 mark of the first half gave the Wildcats a 13-12 lead, and they eventually stoked that advantage to 30-18 when a layup from Malachi Moreno capped a 12-4 run.
A&M answered in a huge way, scoring the ensuing 13 points and taking a 31-30 lead after Dominguez canned a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:22 to play until halftime. After a bucket by Denzel Aberdeen put the Wildcats back on top, A&M produced a 14-0 run to go up 45-32 with 37.5 seconds left in the first half.
A free throw by Moreno with 18.7 seconds remaining cut the Aggies’ lead to 45-33 at the break.
Dominguez led all scorers with 14 points before halftime, while the Wildcats got six points each from three players. Kentucky went the final 4:03 without a field goal and missed 11 of its final 12 attempts from the floor in the half.
