Issue date: 2/14/07 Section: News

Stephen Fogg - The Battalion Senior Acie Law IV tries to dribble pass Texas Tech forward Darryl Dora Tuesday night at Reed Arena. Law went on to score 23 points,including a 3-point shot with five seconds left, tying the game.Seconds later, Texas Tech guard Jarrius Jackson hit a jumpshot at the buzzer, giving Tech the win.

With 1:51 left on the clock, and the Texas A&M men's basketball team trailing the Red Raiders, 71-65 at Reed Arena Tuesday night, many Aggie fans acted like they weren't worried. Every shot of the student section on the big screen showed students smiling and goofing off, just like when A&M defeated Texas the week before by double digits.

And why should they worry? Acie Law IV wears maroon and white. Coach Billy Gillispie walks the A&M side of the bench. A&M hadn't lost at home this season (16-0), and Tech was 1-4 on the road in the Big 12, including a loss at Baylor. The No.6 Aggies couldn't possibly lose to an unranked Red Raider team in College Station. But that is exactly what happened as Tech defeated A&M at the buzzer 77-75.

The game had everything the Aggie fans wanted - almost. A dramatic comeback, a technical foul on Tech head coach Bobby Knight amid raining "sit down bus driver" chants, and a game-tying 3-pointer by team leader Acie Law IV. Everything but the win.

Trailing by three points with 13 seconds left in the game, A&M ran a play to get Law an open shot. The play worked to perfection, as Law hit another big shot reminiscent of the Kansas game and "the shot" against Texas in 2006.

The Aggies' one flaw: They gave Tech guard Jarrius Jackson 5 seconds to make a game winner of his own.

"I just looked at the time, and I saw that we had like 6 seconds left, so I just wanted to take it (the ball) as deep as I could," Jackson said. "I think I got a good shot, so I just took it."

Jackson took the inbound pass and drove the length of the court, pulled up at the left elbow of the foul line and sank the shot.

"It was a great play," said A&M forward Joseph Jones. "He came and got the ball and made a play. What was I supposed to do?"

If A&M had won in overtime, the shot would have all but sealed Law's already tremendous Aggie legend. Instead of jumping around in the midst of celebrating fans like he did against Texas in 2006, the A&M point guard just sat on the corner of the court for several seconds staring off into space.

"I made the shot, and then I was trying to get back to my man," Law said. "Jackson just went down and made a great play."

A&M had chances in the first half to put the game out of the Red Raiders reach, but the Aggies could never capitalize. A&M led by 11 with 3:11 left in the first half, and Tech had 14 turnovers in the period, but the Red Raiders stayed within striking distance, closing out the half with four straight points to make the score, 38-31.

"We were really lucky to be in the ballgame at halftime," Knight said. "They missed an opportunity in the first half to almost have knocked us out of the game. But when I walked off the floor and we were seven down, I though that everything would depend on how well we got started in the second half."

And Tech did play better in the second half, cutting down their turnover to only four and scoring 15 more points than the previous half. It was A&M who committed double digit turnovers with 10.

"When we had opportunities to do something special, we turned the ball over too much at difficult times," Gillispie said. "When we needed to make a basket to stop a run or extend a lead, we turned the ball over. And then they just whipped us on the offensive boards at the start of the second half, and we just had no answer."

Texas Tech is still the only team in the Big 12 to defeat A&M, but now they've beaten the Aggies twice.

Jackson finished the game with 31 points for Tech, and guard Martin Zeno added 19. Law led the Aggies with 23. Antanas Kavaliauskas and Jones both put in 18.

Watch video clips of the game

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