Zhuric Phelps scored 18 points and spurred a second-half surge that helped carry No. 13 Texas A&M to an 80-60 win over visiting rival Texas on Saturday in the teams’ Southeastern Conference opener in College Station, Texas.
It was the first time the teams played as league opponents since 2012 and their first meeting since a neutral site game in December 2019. A game that lacked offensive flow had plenty of intensity and emotion as Texas A&M (12-2, 1-0 SEC) ran its winning streak to eight games.
The Aggies burst away from a tied game at halftime with a 15-2 run and never looked back. Texas drew to within 57-52 after a 9-1 surge through the middle of the second half but got no closer.
Texas A&M extended its lead to 13 points on a Pharrel Payne layup with 4:41 remaining and had plenty to get to the finish line.
Payne scored 15 points and Wade Taylor IV added 13 for the Aggies, while Manny Obaseki had 10 points and Solomon Washington took 10 rebounds.
Tramon Mark led the Longhorns (11-3, 0-1) with 14 points. Arthur Kaluma added 13, Jordan Pope and star freshman Tre Johnson 11 despite going 2 of 13 from the floor. Texas made just 6 of 24 shots in the second half.
Texas was up 24-17 with 9:05 to play in the first half before the Aggies scored six straight points, capped by two free throws by Washington with eight minutes left.
The Longhorns again stretched their lead to six points, but Texas A&M countered with a seven-point surge, culminated by two free throws by Obaseki to go ahead 33-32 with 4:25 remaining in the half.
The Aggies extended their lead to 36-32 on Andersson Garcia’s layup with 2:43 to play.
Pope ended a five-minute-plus scoreless stretch for Texas with a 3-pointer a minute later, and Julian Larry’s layup put the Longhorns back on top.
Phelps’ free throw with five seconds left pulled Texas A&M into a 37-37 tie at the break.
Pope and Mark paced Texas with nine points each in the half and Taylor had seven points for Texas A&M.
The Aggies opened the second half with a 7-0 run and expanded their lead to 50-39 when Henry Coleman III tipped in a miss by Garcia with 15:25 to play.
