BYU basketball: Cougars bounced by Aggies, again

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — For the second straight year the Texas A&M Aggies have ended BYU's basketball season in the first-round of the NCAA tournament, with a 79-66 win Thursday morning at the Waichovia Center.And for the second straight year it was a fast start by the Aggies that did the Cougars in. By making 10 straight field goals to start the game the Aggies raced out to a 26-8 lead and never allowed BYU to get closer than eight again.Once BYU cut the lead to 32-24 in the first half, they failed to score on three straight possessions. From there, the Aggies were able to stretch their lead back to 42-30 at halftime. Jonathan Tavernari had three first-half 3-pointers and Jackson Emery two.With four quick points from Lee Cummard the Cougars clawed back to 47-38 with 15 minutes remaining, but missed back-to-back wide-open 3-point shots that would have cut the margin to six. The Aggies responded with five quick points to regain control of the game and pushed their lead back to 16 several times in the second half.With BYU over the limit in fouls midway through the second half, the Aggies were able to hold on by getting to the free-throw line and making those free throws — 13-of-19 to be exact.The loss is BYU's eighth straight in the NCAA Tournament, and the seventh-straight time they've lost in the first round.Jimmer Fredette finished as BYU's high man with 18, while Cummard added 17 and Noah Hartsock 10 off the bench. The Cougars finished the game making 39 percent of their field goals.The Aggies had five players in double figures and got a game-high 21 from Bryan Davis. Donald Sloan scored 14, with B. J. Holmes, Derrick Roland and Josh Carter each scoring 10. The Aggies finished the game making 57 percent of their shots.