Carter leads Texas A&M past BYU

Carter matched a career high with 26 points to lead ninth-seeded Texas A&M to a 67-62 victory over eighth-seeded Brigham Young in a West Regional matchup on Thursday.

Carter kept his team afloat with 17 points in the opening half and was electric from the arc, burying 6-of-10 3-point attempts en route to shooting 10-of-16 from the floor.

The Aggies (25-10) shot 54 percent (25-of-46) from the field and benefited from the play of Dominique Kirk over the final minutes. The senior guard buried a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch, including one with 28 seconds remaining that stretched the lead to 66-60 and effectively sealed the win.

Fellow backcourt standout Donald Sloan stepped up at the end as well, knocking down a pair of free throws with 1:13 remaining and finishing with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting.

The Cougars (27-8) were led by sophomore forward Jonathan Tavernari, who finished with 15 points, but shot just 6-of-15 from the floor. Tavernari missed a pair of 3-point attempts as BYU made just one of five shots over the last 1:23.

Lee Cummard added 14 points and Trent Plaisted chipped in 13 for the Cougars, who finish the season with two straight losses after posting victories in 15 of their previous 16 contests.

Carter got the Aggies out of the gate in a hurry, pouring in three 3-pointers to spark an 11-0 run to start the game.

BYU responded with an 8-2 run to pull back to within 13-8 with 9:44 left before the break, but a pair of field goals by Sloan and another 3-pointer by Carter stretched the lead back to 20-10 at the 7:16 mark.

The Cougars shot 8-of-10 from the floor over the final 6:53 to pull even, 29-29, at the break.

With the BYU defense keying on Carter in the second half, Texas A&M frontcourt mates Bryan Davis and Joseph Jones went to work. Davis scored nine of his 11 points after the break and Jones pulled down nine of his 11 rebounds in the final 20 minutes.

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