Baylor beats A&M 63-60

Pierre Jackson ignored earlier misses and drained a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left then hit two free throws with 1.4 seconds left to give the No. 6 Baylor Bears a hard-fought 63-60 victory over outmanned Texas A&M on Wednesday.

A&M's Elston Turner missed a difficult 3 with 7 seconds left, and the Bears rebounded it, forcing A&M to foul.

Jackson missed the front end of a one-and-one after getting fouled with 3 seconds left, but Baylor's Quincy Acy punched the rebound back out to Jackson, and A&M's Ray Turner immediately fouled him with 1.4 seconds left.

Jackson, a 5-foot-10 junior college transfer, finished with 14 points, the late 3-pointer being the biggest.

"I had missed my previous 3 when I was wide open, and my teammates just told me the next one is going to fall, and it did," Jackson said. "Where I came from, it's how I'm built. I'm just going to do whatever it takes to help my team."

The victory put the Bears (20-2, 7-2) one game behind Big 12-leader Kansas in the conference standings.

A&M (12-9, 3-6) played without starters Dash Harris and Khris Middleton for the second straight game.

Baylor looked like it would take the suspense out of the game early in the second half, leading 41-33 with the ball, but A&M's Naji Hibbert stole a pass at the 3-point line and drove the length of the court for a basket. On the Aggies' next possession, Hibbert found Ray Turner for a fast-break layup to close the gap to 41-37

Minutes later Hibbert broke free after a Baylor alley-oop attempt caromed hard off the backboard. He missed the contested layup, but Ray Turner hustled down to clean it up, scoring to cut the Bears' lead to two.

Ray Turner later scored to put the Aggies ahead for the first time since David Loubeau's dunk with 16:03 left in the first half gave A&M a 9-8 lead. Turner also gave the Aggies their biggest lead at 49-44, battling for position on a Loubeau miss and putting back the rebound with 9:32 left. The basket forced Baylor into calling a timeout.

"We definitely knew we had them out of their game," Turner said.

The 6-8 Ray Turner finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, four on the offensive end against a Bears' front line that averages 6-9.

After the timeout, the Bears switched from the zone defense they usually play to a man-to-man. They also made a more conscious effort to get the ball inside offensively.

Jackson caused a couple of turnovers to help Baylor rally. Baylor's Quincy Acy had two dunks, one on a set play and another on a fast break, then A.J. Walton added a dunk on a fast break to put the Bears back in front 51-49.

Baylor extended the lead to 58-53 on a Jackson 3, but A&M came back again with an inside move by Loubeau for a layup and a 3 by Daniel Alexander, who hit 4 of 7 shots from 3-point range for 12 points.

Jackson missed the next two times down the court, and Loubeau, who had a game-high 16 points, worked his way inside for a shot over Acy to put A&M up 60-58 with 29 seconds left.

"We definitely put ourselves in a position to win," Alexander said. "That's why it hurt so much. "