Zhuric Phelps scored 18 points and spurred a second-half surge that helped carry No. 13 Texas A&M to an 80-60 win over visiting rival Texas on Saturday in the teams’ Southeastern Conference opener in College Station, Texas.
It was the first time the teams played as league opponents since 2012 and their first meeting since a neutral site game in December 2019. A game that lacked offensive flow had plenty of intensity and emotion as Texas A&M (12-2, 1-0 SEC) ran its winning streak to eight games.
The Aggies burst away from a tied game at halftime with a 15-2 run and never looked back. Texas drew to within 57-52 after a 9-1 surge through the middle of the second half but got no closer.
Texas A&M extended its lead to 13 points on a Pharrel Payne layup with 4:41 remaining and had plenty to get to the finish line.
Payne scored 15 points and Wade Taylor IV added 13 for the Aggies, while Manny Obaseki had 10 points and Solomon Washington grabbed 10 rebounds.
Tramon Mark led the Longhorns (11-3, 0-1) with 14 points. Arthur Kaluma added 13, Jordan Pope had 12 and star freshman Tre Johnson netted 11 despite going 2-of-13 from the floor. Texas made just 6 of 24 shots in the second half.
The Longhorns were up 24-17 with 9:05 to play in the first half before Texas A&M scored six straight points, capped by two free throws by Washington with eight minutes left.
Texas again stretched its lead to six points, but the Aggies inched back ahead on two free throws by Obaseki that made it 33-32 with 4:25 remaining in the half.
Andersson Garcia’s layup capped a 10-0 run that put Texas A&M up 36-32 with 2:43 to play.
Pope ended a five-minute-plus scoreless stretch for the Longhorns with a 3-pointer a minute later, and Julian Larry’s layup put Texas back on top.
Phelps’ free throw with five seconds left pulled the Aggies into a 37-37 tie at the break.
Pope and Mark paced the Longhorns with nine points each in the half and Taylor had seven points for Texas A&M.
The Aggies opened the second half with a 7-0 run and expanded their lead to 52-39 when Obaseki hit two free throws with 15:25 remaining.
–Field Level Media
