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Sloan, Texas A&M cruise past LSU

Jan 6, 2008 - 4:34 AM COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Ticker) -- Texas A&M continued its dominant homestand to get off to its best start in 86 years on Saturday.

Donald Sloan scored 17 points and Josh Carter added 13 as the 10th-ranked Aggies pounded Louisiana State, 79-53, at Reed Arena.

Joseph Jones chipped in 12 points for the Aggies, who have won their first seven games of an eight-game homestand by an average of 29.6 points. Texas A&M finishes its homestand with the Big 12 Conference opener against Colorado on January 12.

With the win, the Aggies are also off to their best start since the 1921-22 season when they began 16-1. The best start in school history was 19-0 during the 1919-20 campaign.

"I am really proud of my team tonight," Aggies coach Mark Turgeon said. "They played with a great energy from the start. In the second half we really turned it up defensively and that was the difference. This is by far the most athletic team I have ever coached."

Texas A&M (14-1) scored the game's first nine points and never led by less than seven for the duration of the contest. Carter made a pair of 3-pointers to give the Aggies a 22-9 lead with just under 13 minutes left in the half and Texas A&M had a 43-28 advantage at the break.

Jones and Sloan each scored nine points in the half to pace the Aggies, who shot 51 percent (18-of-35) in the opening 20 minutes.

"We obviously have areas that we need to improve but we feel very confident right now," Sloan said. "I'm not saying we will win every game, we have things that we need to tweak but we do have a lot of confidence."

Carter netted five points as Texas A&M scored the first seven of the second half to take a 50-28 lead with 17:18 remaining.

The Aggies further put the game out of reach with a 9-0 spurt midway through the second half to take a 61-32 bulge, and Texas A&M led by as many as 30 with 8:16 to play.

"These kids obviously wanted to beat LSU and you could see that from the start by the way they came out and defended," Turgeon said. "These guys needed a challenge and they stepped up tonight. Now we have a week to prepare for Colorado but yeah, I think we are ready."

Anthony Randolph scored 16 points to lead the Tigers (7-7), who have lost three straight.

LSU was outrebounded, 40-31, and shot just 28 percent (10-of-36) from the field in the second half.

"I thought our team competed well," LSU coach John Brady said. "We battled them on the boards, they just pushed us around."