No. 8 Cats down No. 11 Aggies on Tuesday – UK Athletics

Jaxson Robinson scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half as No. 8 Kentucky reached the 11^Th-Defeated Texas A&M 81-69 on Tuesday at Rupp Arena.

Andrew Carr had 13 points and Otega Oweh added 11 as Kentucky won its second straight game. The Cats made 24 of 52 (46.2 percent) from the field, including 9 of 27 (33.3 percent) from distance. Kentucky hit 24 of 31 at the line and outrebounded the Aggies 40-30.

Kentucky (14-3, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) scored its first points of the game when Amari Williams found Carr underneath for an easy layup. After an A&M three-pointer, Lamont Butler found Jaxson Robinson for a reverse layup that gave the Cats a 4-3 lead. On the next play, Robinson hit a three-pointer and Great Britain had a 7-3 lead.

Texas A&M (13-4, 2-2) responded with a three-pointer of its own to get within one, but Carr scored on consecutive trips and the Cats led 11-6. However, the Aggies scored the next 12 points and led 18-11. A Robinson free throw and a Williams putback put the Cats up 18-14.

The Aggies hit two free throws to make it 20-14 before Ansley Almonor hit three free throws to cut the deficit to 20-17. Two free throws from Koby Brea brought the Cats within one point, 20-19, but the Aggies scored to extend the lead to 22-19. An Almonor three-pointer tied the game at 22:22.

A three-pointer gave the Aggies a 25-22 lead before Butler made two free throws to cut the lead to 25-24. After another A&M three-pointer, Robinson hit a three-pointer of his own to bring Kentucky back within one point at 28-27. The teams traded threes again, with Robinson doing the honors for the Cats and the score was 31-30. After an Aggies free throw, Butler hit two charity shots, tying the game at 32-32 with less than a minute left in the half. A Robinson three-pointer with four seconds left gave Kentucky a 35-32 lead, which would be the halftime score. Robinson led all scorers with 15 points in the first 20 minutes.

The second half scoring began with two free throws from Otega Oweh, followed by a three-pointer from Travis Perry, giving the Cats a 40-32 lead. After an A&M timeout, Robinson hit three more times to extend the lead to 43-32. The Aggies got a basket before Perry hit another three-pointer, extending the lead to 46-34. After an A&M basket, Carr scored in the lane to give UK a 48-36 lead.

After an A&M basket, Oweh crashed over the rim with a huge dunk that gave Kentucky a 50-38 lead. A&M converted a three-point play before Williams grabbed an offensive rebound and stuffed it in to extend the lead to 52-41. A&M scored again before an Oweh steal and dunk made it 54-43. A dunk from Brandon Garrison extended the lead to 56-43.

The Aggies scored five straight goals and came within eight points at 56-48. But Brea hit a three-pointer to extend the lead back to 11 points, 59-48. Texas A&M had an answer, scoring five straight goals to make the score 59-53 with 6:58 minutes to play.

Williams hit two free throws and Robinson hit a baseline jumper to extend UK’s lead to 63-53. A&M hit one of two at the line before a Robinson dunk made it 65-54. A&M scored to make it 65-56 before Oweh scored one of two from the line to give UK a 10-point lead.

A&M hit two free throws before a Carr three-point play gave the Cats a 69-58 lead with 3:27 left. After another Aggies basket, Garrison hit two free throws to make it 71-60 with 2:55 minutes to play. After three free throws from the Aggies, the Cats scored six goals in a row to put the game away.

Kentucky returns to play on Saturday when it hosts No. 4 Alabama at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for noon ET and the game can be viewed on ESPN.