Aggies top Rice 68-41 to continue streak

Josh Carter and DeAndre Jordan scored 16 points apiece, and No. 12 Texas A&M beat Rice 68-41 Monday for its sixth straight win. Jordan, a 7-foot freshman, also had 12 rebounds and four blocks.

Texas A&M (13-1) moved into a tie for the second-best start in school history. It's the first time since the 1959-60 season the Aggies have been 13-1.

The Aggies led by 15 at halftime and pushed their lead to 47-27 on a layup by Jordan midway through the second half. They went on a 6-0 run to make it 59-33 with about 5 minutes left.

Lawrence Ghoram had 16 points and six rebounds for Rice (3-8).

This was the Owls' first trip to College Station since their 78-56 loss to Texas A&M in the last year of Southwest Conference play in 1996.

Joseph Jones added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Aggies, who closed out the first half with an 11-0 run.

Jones scored inside and Carter made a 3-pointer in the first 2 minutes after the break to stretch the lead to 38-18.

Ghoram's layup with 15:42 left cut Texas A&M's lead to 40-26, but Rice went the next 7 minutes without a field goal as the Aggies stayed in control.

Texas A&M led 59-35 with about 4 minutes left when coach Mark Turgeon turned the game over to his reserves.

The Aggies have won 13 straight games at Reed Arena, including all 11 this season. They've won 45 consecutive regular-season nonconference home games.

Rice shot only 27 percent (15-for-56), the fourth Texas A&M opponent to shoot worse than 30 percent this season.

The Aggies shot a season-low 38 percent from the field (26-of-69), the first time they've been under 43 percent this season. They outrebounded the Owls 51-43.