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Guards lead A&M past Cowboys

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Sports Writer

STILLWATER, Okla - First it was Texas' D.J. Augustin. Then came Kansas' Sherron Collins. Now the Big 12 can boast a trifecta of freshman point guards who may be heard from for a long time.

Donald Sloan, who has had to pay his dues behind senior All-American candidate Acie Law IV, scored a career-high 15 points on a national stage in A&M's 66-46 victory over Oklahoma State at historic Gallagher-Iba Arena on Wednesday.

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Buy this photo AP Photo Texas A&M's Acie Law IV had 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 34 minutes Wednesday in the Aggies' 66-46 victory over Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

"He was huge," a subdued Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton said of Sloan. "He made an impact both halves. A&M is getting better because of guys like him and [6-foot-9 freshman] Bryan Davis."

With guard Dominique Kirk sidelined in the first half because of back spasms, Sloan was pressed to play more minutes than usual. The 6-2 guard from Seagoville took full advantage of them, scoring nine points in the first half and helping cover for Kirk and Law, who sat out the final 4:11 of the first half with two fouls.

"When I picked up my second foul, I told coach I didn't want to come out," Law said. "But he made the decision to take me out, and I looked right at Sloan and told him we were on a roll and we needed to get a good shot every time. Sloan did a good job of running the team, and the other guys came in and made big plays for us to push the lead up going into the half."

Sloan took Law's advice to heart, driving for a basket on the first possession after Law took the bench. A minute later, Sloan hit a 3-pointer before making a veteran-like move on an OSU inbounds pass for a steal and easy basket to give A&M a 34-19 lead.

On the play, the Cowboys' Terrell Harris lofted an inbound pass for either Kenny Cooper or Byron Eaton. Sloan beat them both to the ball and layed it in as the two looked at each other.

"I thought that was kind of funny because I was watching on film how sometimes they just loft it back there," Sloan said. "There were two of them back there, and one of them thought the other was going to get it, and the other thought the other would get it. I kept running, and neither one of them got it. I ended up being back there by myself."

Sloan also had two steals and four rebounds in his 25 minutes, the most he's played since A&M's third game in conference play.

With Sloan backing him up, Law scored a team-high 19 points as A&M (23-4, 12-2 Big 12) won at Oklahoma State for the first time since 1923. The 84-year drought includes just 12 games.

The Aggies also moved back into a tie for first place with Kansas, and they did it with defense.

A&M held Oklahoma State (19-8, 5-7) to it's lowest point total of the year. Mario Boggan and JamesOn Curry, the second and fourth leading scorers in the league, both had their season lows with seven and eight points, respectively.

"I think we are hitting our stride defensively," A&M head coach Billy Gillispie said. "We could be as good as we were defensively last year."

And Sloan was at least partially responsible for the good defense Wednesday.

"If I can get in and make one defensive stop, that will trigger everyone else," Sloan said. "I don't look to score. I'm looking to help on defense, and I think I did that all right tonight."

Texas' Augustin averages 14 points and nearly seven assists a game as one of four freshmen starters for the Longhorns.

Kansas' Collins averages 10 points and 2.9 assists in 21 minutes a game for the Jayhawks. He was EPSN's Player of the Game in Kansas' victory over Kansas State on Monday.

Sloan received the same honor on Wednesday.

"He's an intelligent player who is very good off the dribble," Gillispie said.

NOTES - Oklahoma State honored former head basketball coach Eddie Sutton during halftime. Sutton is a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2007. He won 798 games, fifth all-time, as a Division I coach. He also led four different schools to the NCAA Tournament. He retired after last season, although there is talk he may coach again. He said he felt better than he has in years at a press conference before the game. ... Law, who was 0-3 at Gallagher-Iba entering the game, said it was strange looking up with 6 minutes left and seeing a lot of empty, orange seats. Many of the 13,637 were gone by the 5-minute mark. ... A&M's victory was the first by a Top 10 opponent at Gallagher-Iba Arena in the last seven attempts. ... OSU's 20-point loss was it's worst at home since the Cowboys fell to Texas 108-77 in 1977. ... Boggan had hit 16 straight free throws against the Aggies until his miss with 5:19 left Wednesday. The streak covered three-plus games.