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Law leads Texas A&M to 16th straight home win

Jan 3, 2007 - 8:32 AM COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Ticker) -- Acie Law IV and Texas A&M were not about to overlook Winthrop after what the Eagles have done to ranked teams this season.

Law scored 22 points and Antanas Kavaliauskas added 20 as No. 11 Texas A&M captured its 16th consecutive home win with a 71-51 victory over Winthrop.

Josh Carter added 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range for the Aggies (12-2), who finished 53 percent (25-of-47) from the field.

An NCAA Tournament squad last season, the Eagles gave both North Carolina and Wisconsin fits earlier this season, losing to both highly ranked squads by just a combined 10 points.

That point was not lost on Texas A&M, which shot 47 percent (9-of-19) from the field in the first half to grab a 33-22 edge.

That respect started with Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie, who sees a great future for the Eagles.

"They executed and they're experienced," he said. "They're a team that I think could be an Elite Eight team. They got into foul trouble early, but I think they have a great team."

Texas A&M also did a great job defending Winthrop's strong shooters, holding them to 6-of-21 (29 percent) on 3-pointers for the contest.

"I think the sky is they limit for this team," Law said. "We're winning ballgames, but I feel like we have not played our best ball yet. We have to continue to work hard in practice and hope we can play as well as we were at the end of last season."

Guard Torell Martin, who combined for 56 points in the meetings with UNC and Wisconsin, was limited to just nine points on 4-of-9 from the floor.

Law also had eight assists and Kavaliauskas grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds for the Aggies, who finished with 24 assists on 25 field goals and held a 30-21 edge on the boards.

"They're athletic, they're big, they're strong and they're not complicated," Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall said. "We've been called 'junkyard dogs' before (because of physical play) and there are times when we've looked like that. By and large, we play harder than most teams we play, but not them."

Texas A&M next will start up Big 12 Conference play, hosting Kansas State on Saturday.

"We're heading into conference play on a positive note," Gillispie said. "We have a long way to go, but again, it was a real quality win against a well-coached team."

Michael Jenkins scored 13 points for the Eagles (10-4), who had a four-game winning streak snapped.