COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)—About a minute into Texas A&M’s game against Louisiana Tech, Acie Law gave up a three-point play—a mistake that landed him on the bench.
After 12 minutes there, he got the message.
Law scored eight points in the last six minutes of the first half and added 13 in the second to lead No. 12 Texas A&M to a 75-59 victory Saturday night.
“I haven’t been practicing well and it’s been carrying over into games,” Law said. “You have a one-play contract with coach, you have to come out and compete. I had to play well and make plays from the get-go, but I made a mistake on the first play and coach sat me down.”
Aggies coach Billy Gillispie said Law made up for his gaffe.
“He played very well in the second half,” Gillispie said. “The guys did well playing without Acie there for a while. That is not exactly how we want to play, but sometimes we may have to.”
Law scored 21 points and Joseph Jones had 19 to lead Texas A&M. Josh Carter added 12 for the Aggies (3-0), who shot 54 percent from the field and outrebounded Louisiana Tech 34-30.
Law went 8-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
“We wanted to stay in front of him,” Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard said. “He lulls you to sleep and takes off with it. His ability to create is very, very good and we didn’t stay focused on that.”
Marcus Elliot scored 17 points for the Bulldogs (0-2), hitting 4 of 6 3-pointers. Chad McKenzie had 12 points and Drew Washington finished with 10.
Louisiana Tech led 23-22 early, its largest lead of the game, but Texas A&M responded with a 14-5 run to close out the first half.
Texas A&M turned up the defensive pressure and went on a 19-4 run in the second half to put the game away. The Aggies’ largest lead of the night was 21 points, which came with 5:42 left to play.
The Aggies dominated the Bulldogs inside, the Aggies scored 34 points in the paint and only allowed the Bulldogs to score 10.
“This team has a chance to be the best defensive team that we have had here but we are just not there yet,” Gillispie said. “These guys are playing hard and trying hard, we are just not very good yet.”
Louisiana Tech shot 35 percent from the field, the highest percentage given up in the Aggies first three games, while Texas A&M made 54 percent of its field goals. Texas A&M faces Saint Louis in the final game of the Shelby Metcalf Classic on Sunday afternoon.
