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Texas A&,M 67, BYU 62

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Texas A&M forward Josh Carter has had an up-and-down season.

He was up against Brigham Young.

Carter scored 26 points, matching his career high, as the Aggies defeated Brigham Young 67-62 in the West Region's first round on Thursday, handing the Cougars their sixth straight opening-round loss.

Carter had made three 3-pointers in his past three games, hitting 3 of 15 shots from beyond the arc. He nailed that many in the opening minutes, leading the Aggies to an 11-0 lead.

``My teammates have been telling me all week just to keep shooting (and) it was going to fall for me,'' said Carter, who went 10-for-16 from the field and 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. ``It was good to be able to get off to a good start.''

The Aggies frittered away their big early lead, and they were tied at 29-29 at intermission. But ninth-seeded Texas A&M proved tougher down the stretch, holding off the No. 8-seeded Cougars in the final minutes.

The Aggies played two days after attending the funeral for guard Donald Sloan's mother, Sandra Sloan. Sloan, a sophomore from Dallas, started and scored eight points with six assists and five rebounds.

``I think we pride ourselves on toughness and being poised,'' Carter said. ``We were able to just fight through it and not get down on ourselves, like we would have in the past, and we just come together as a team.''

BYU didn't go quietly. After erasing the early 11-0 deficit, they nearly climbed out of a six-point hole in the final minute. Jimmer Fredette's 3-pointer with 59 seconds to play sliced the Aggies' lead to 63-60.

But Dominique Kirk answered with a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left, and Joseph Jones hit a free throw 11 seconds later to put the game away. Jones finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

``It could have gone either way,'' said BYU forward Jonathan Tavernari, who led the Cougars with 15 points. ``We were just a couple plays short this game.''

The Aggies (25-10) advanced to face top-seeded UCLA, which beat Mississippi Valley State 70-29, on Saturday.

The Aggies entered the tournament hoping to build on last year's run to the round of 16, which ended with a one-point loss to Memphis. Texas A&M doesn't have an illustrious tourney history - the Aggies have a total of seven victories in nine trips - but it is no longer content to draw a bid.

``It feels good to have a good performance, but we didn't come here to just win one game,'' Carter said. ``We just want to keep it rolling.''

Carter took advantage of the Cougars' strategy of double-teaming A&M's big men and daring the Aggies to beat them from afar. It was a smart approach to a team that shoots 35.8 percent from beyond the arc.

``We were slow, but he was quick to start the game,'' BYU coach Dave Rose said. ``When he hit that first one, you knew it was going to be a big challenge.''

The Cougars finished 27-8 but head back to Provo with an empty feeling. They haven't won an NCAA tournament game since 1993, when they beat No. 10-seeded Southern Methodist in the first round.

``It's back to the drawing board,'' said BYU's Lee Cummard, who had 14 points. ``We've got to compete with a little more sense of urgency to start the game. Credit to Texas A&M.''

BYU set a school record with 278 3-pointers this year. But the Cougars made only 7-for-22 (31.8 percent) from beyond the arc while Texas A&M hit 8-for-16 (50 percent).

``I thought that tonight, most of the time when we came off screens to get a shot, there was somebody right there,'' Rose said.

The Cougars missed their first eight shots and didn't score until Cummard slammed home a missed shot with 13:55 to play in the first half. Twelve minutes into the game, the Cougars had more turnovers (four) than buckets (three).

It looked like a rout was in the making, but then BYU's shooters began finding their range. Trailing 24-16 with 4:31 to go in the first half, BYU went on a 13-2 run capped by 3-pointers by Tavernari and Fredette, and the teams were tied at 29-29 at halftime.

Asked to explain the bad start, BYU guard Sam Burgess said, ``Jitters from it being the beginning of the tournament and being on the big stage is the only thing I can think of to explain it, but give credit to us for batting back and getting into the game.''

FanNation.com via AP