Game-changing dunks lift Texas A&M over Penn

By Associated Press     Mar 16, 2007

Texas A&M's Joseph Jones, right, goes up for a shot against Penn's Mark Zoller. Jones had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the Aggies' 68-52 first-round victory Thursday in Lexington, Ky.

? Acie Law usually is “Captain Clutch” for Texas A&M. On Thursday, teammate Joseph Jones was the one who had the biggest impact with the game on the line.

Law, arguably the nation’s best point guard, needed plenty of help from Jones and others to push the third-seeded Aggies past upset-minded Penn, 68-52, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Jones had two big dunks in less than a minute to lead Texas A&M (26-6), which advanced to play Louisville on Saturday in Rupp Arena.

Law led the Aggies with 20 points despite hitting only six of 15 shots. While the Quakers (22-9) found an answer for him in Ibrahim Jaaber, they couldn’t answer Texas A&M’s inside game.

Jones tied the game at 39 with a thundering dunk at the 11-minute mark, then added another dunk to give the Aggies the lead for good. He finished with a double-double – 14 points, 11 rebounds.

“He did a good job on getting those two monster dunks when we didn’t have anything going,” Law said.

The timing couldn’t have been better. The 14th-seeded Quakers had just taken their only lead of the game.

“It put a spark in us and got us a run going,” Jones said. “I was just trying to be aggressive.”

For much of the second half, the tournament-tested Ivy League champions gave the Aggies a scare, but Law wasn’t about to let his team depart with a first-round loss.

“We didn’t want to lose,” Law said. “We worked too hard this season to put ourselves in this situation, and we didn’t want to let it go too early. We knew in our minds that we had to make plays and get back in it, and it all starts with defense.”

Ohio State 78, Cent. Connecticut State 57

Lexington, Ky. – Greg Oden had 19 points and 10 rebounds in his first NCAA tournament game, and Jamar Butler scored 17 for top-seeded Ohio State.

Oden earned his 12th double-double of the season. Ron Lewis added 13 as the Buckeyes (31-3) quickly dispatched the game but ultimately overmatched Blue Devils (22-12).

Javier Mojica led Central Connecticut State with 19 points.

Ohio State will play either BYU or Xavier in the second round.

Louisville 78, Stanford 58

Lexington, Ky. – Louisville did just fine in its odd Kentucky home. Stanford seemed all too eager to flee back to the West Coast.

Playing at Rupp Arena – home to archrival Kentucky – Louisville got 16 points from both Edgar Sosa and David Padgett. Sixth-seeded Louisville bolted to a 41-13 lead in front of a highly partisan crowd.

Earl Clark and Derrick Caracter each had 12 points for Louisville (24-9), which was playing less than 80 miles from its campus.

Brook Lopez led 11th-seeded Stanford (18-13) with 18 points.

The Cardinals will meet Texas A&M in the second round.

Xavier 79, Brigham Young 77

Lexington, Ky. – Drew Lavender, a 5-foot-7 transfer from Oklahoma, made two floaters in the lane, then grabbed a crucial rebound and sank two free throws with 11 seconds left to help the ninth-seeded Musketeers.

Justin Doellman scored 23 points, and Lavender finished with 17 to help Xavier (25-8) advance beyond the first round for the fourth time in its last five NCAA appearances. The Atlantic 10 co-regular-season champions will face Ohio State and former Musketeers coach Thad Matta in the second round.

BYU (25-9) battled back to take a 73-71 lead with 2:10 to go.

PREV POST

Campbell shows up in second half, Bulldogs top Monarchs

NEXT POST

24018Game-changing dunks lift Texas A&M over Penn