Texas A&M too much for Iowa State

? Bryan Davis and Josh Carter took charge of the usually balanced Texas A&M offense and led the Aggies to their most decisive road win of the season.

Davis scored 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, Carter added 12 and No. 18 Texas A&M cruised past Iowa State, 69-51, for its fourth straight win.

Donald Sloan had 11 points and three others players had at least eight for the Aggies, who went on a 31-9 run that stretched from the end of the first half until midway through the second.

Texas A&M (19-4, 5-3 Big 12) snapped Iowa State’s nine-game home winning streak and picked up just its second road win. The Aggies’ other road victory was at Oklahoma State, 59-56, on Jan. 26, which came on the heels of a five-overtime loss to Baylor.

Texas A&M hasn’t lost since.

“We’re getting there,” Aggies coach Mark Turgeon said. “We’re playing with much more toughness and much more poise, home and away.”

Texas A&M rallied to take a six-point edge at halftime, then put the game out of reach by hitting 11 of its first 14 shots in the second half. Davis started it with six straight points, and Carter buried a 3 to put the Aggies ahead 39-26.

Carter hit another three-pointer and Davis added a pair of layups to make it 50-31 with 12:42 left.

“We don’t care who scores the most,” said Carter, who was 4-of-6 from 3-point range. “Whoever is getting it done that night is going to get the most touches. Davis played great.”

Texas A&M’s balance was also evident in the paint, as five different Aggies had five or more rebounds. Turgeon has been harping on his big guys to improve their rebounding – despite the fact that Texas A&M entered play fourth in the nation in rebounding margin – and he’s finally seeing the results he’s been looking for.

The Aggies kept Iowa State (13-10, 3-5) off the glass for the opening 7:35 of the second half and outrebounded their opponent for the 21st time in 23 games.

“For as big as we are, we’re not a great rebounding team. The numbers say that we are, but we’re not,” Turgeon said. “The last two games we’ve done a good job of boxing out.”