Senior Quenton Jackson scored a career-high 31 points and Texas A&M broke away over the final 8 1/2 minutes to post an 85-59 victory over Central Arkansas on Wednesday night at College Station, Texas.
Marcus Williams matched season highs of 16 points and four steals and recorded a season-best eight assists for the Aggies (11-2), who won their fourth straight game. Andre Gordon added 12 points for Texas A&M.
Jackson shot 11 of 18 from the field and also collected seven rebounds for the Aggies, who completed the game with a 31-6 burst.
Camren Hunter registered 12 points and four blocked shots for Central Arkansas (2-10), which lost for the seventh time in eight games. Collin Cooper also scored 12 on four 3-pointers.
The Bears committed 23 turnovers, which Texas A&M converted into 34 points. The Aggies had just six giveaways.
Texas A&M made 50 percent of its field-goal attempts and was 8 of 20 (40 percent) from 3-point range.
Central Arkansas connected on 41.7 percent of its shots, including 12 of 27 (44.4 percent) from behind the arc.
Texas A&M held a 47-42 lead after Williams made a jumper with 12:53 left in the contest.
Central Arkansas scored 11 of the next 18 points to move within 54-53 on Jared Chatham’s 3-pointer with 9:16 remaining.
However, Aaron Cash drove in for a thunderous dunk with 8:29 left for the Aggies to start runs of 9-0 and 23-2.
Williams followed with a steal and made a layup with 8:14 to play. Hassan Diarra knocked down a 3-pointer and Tyrece Radford scored on a dunk for a 10-point lead with 6:14 to play.
After Darious Hall dunked for the Bears, Texas A&M rattled off 14 more in a row. Jackson scored seven straight in one stretch, including a dunk with 3:59 left that allowed him to surpass his previous career best of 28 set against New Orleans last season.
Williams’ fastbreak layup with 2:46 remaining capped the run and gave the Aggies a 77-55 advantage en route to capping the victory.
Radford’s last-second dunk gave Texas A&M a 35-34 halftime lead.
The Aggies scored the first six points of the game before Central Arkansas ripped off an 18-0 surge. Hunter capped it with a 3-pointer to give the Bears a 12-point lead with 13:27 remaining in the half.
Central Arkansas led 26-13 after Hall’s layup with 9:05 remaining before Texas A&M went on its own 18-0 burst. Jackson’s fastbreak layup ended it and gave the Aggies a five-point lead with 4:05 left before intermission.
–Field Level Media
