WACO -- Texas A&M has built its Big 12 campaign around comebacks, and on Wednesday it looked like the Aggies were at it again.
A&M pulled to within one point of 24th-ranked Baylor in the second half, but the Bears would have none of it as they gritted out a 70-66 victory over the No. 22 Aggies at the Ferrell Center.
With the victory, the Bears caught A&M (19-8, 8-5) in a four-way tie for third place in the Big 12 at 8-5. Texas, which A&M hosts at 1 p.m. Saturday at Reed Arena, and Missouri also are tied for third. The top four teams receive byes in the Big 12 Championship.
"I was proud of our effort, but I thought at times we didn't play very well," A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "We shot 36 percent on the road, and we were one stop away from a chance to win it."
After trailing the entire second half, two Ray Turner free throws pulled A&M within 67-66 with 50 seconds remaining.
The Aggies then got the stop they needed, forcing a long shot by Tweety Carter that missed. The Bears' Ekpe Udoh grabbed the long rebound, however, and passed the ball to LaceDarius Dunn, who the Aggies had to foul with 17 seconds remaining.
Dunn made both free throws, giving him a game-high 23 points.
Sloan then got a good look at tying the game with a 3-pointer that bounded high off the rim. Baylor's Quincy Acy rebounded the ball with 1.8 seconds remaining, was fouled and iced the game with his first free throw.
"We believe in each other. We just couldn't get it done tonight," Turgeon said. "We played great defense that last possession and the ball bounced their way, bounced long. We were right there and just couldn't get the stop and rebound."
Earlier, Baylor grabbed it's biggest lead of the game courtesy of 3-pointers by two players that had combined to make six all season. The first was by Fred Ellis and the second by A.J. Walton to give Baylor a 52-39 lead with 10:32 left.
"It was good to see Ellis make a big shot," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. "He's been looking for his opportunity."
But Baylor made only four baskets the rest of the way. That included three by Dunn, who answered 3-pointers by Sloan and B.J. Holmes with 3s of his own. That 12-point barrage of treys happened in a 45-second stretch.
"Give Baylor credit," Turgeon said. "Lace's two 3s were huge, especially the second one when we had cut it back to one again."
The Aggie comeback was hindered by foul trouble. Turgeon sat Davis and Sloan after they each picked up their second fouls in the first half and David Loubeau went from one to three fouls on one Baylor possession early in the second half. He only played 7 minutes in the second half, fouling out with almost 5 minutes remaining.
Baylor's Josh Lomers also fouled out after having one of his best games of the season with 10 points and seven rebounds.
A&M withstood Baylor's torrid start, rallying from eight down twice in the first half. Baylor led 21-12, but Sloan's floater in the lane with 6:34 left in the first half capped A&M's run to tie the game at 25.
A little more than a minute later, David Loubeau scored on a putback to give the Aggies their first lead since the opening basket. Sloan picked up his second foul prior to Loubeau's shot and sat the rest of the half. With Sloan on the bench, Baylor went up by four to take a 36-32 halftime lead. Before Turgeon elected to sit Sloan, the senior guard had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
With 2.7 seconds left in the first half, the Aggies forced Tweety Carter to launch a 3-pointer from way behind the line which missed. But Holmes fouled him, and Carter swished all three free throws.
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