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Durant, Texas overcome Texas A&M in double overtime

Mar 1, 2007 - 7:03 AM AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- Acie Law IV finally ran out of clutch shots.

Freshman Kevin Durant had 30 points and 16 rebounds and No. 15 Texas overcame a magnificent performance by Law to knock off sixth-ranked Texas A&M, 98-96, in a Big 12 Conference double-overtime thriller.

The Longhorns (22-7, 12-3 Big 12) won their sixth consecutive game to move into a tie with the Aggies for second place in the conference, one game behind Kansas.

Texas hosts the Jayhawks on Saturday with a chance to earn a share of the league's regular-season championship. If the Longhorns win, Texas A&M (24-5, 12-3) can make it a three-way tie for the title by beating Missouri.

"I thought we had two teams that played their hearts out tonight," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I can't say enough about our team and I can't say enough about A&M. I don't know all of the history, but I don't think there has been a bigger game than right now because of where both of our programs are right now. I just have respect for both teams for the way they played tonight."

The Longhorns seemingly had the Aggies buried twice. Texas led by four points with 20 seconds to go in regulation and by seven with 1:14 to play in the first overtime.

Both times Law brought A&M back. Coming on the heels of a 31-point effort against Baylor on Saturday, Law poured in a season-high 33 against Texas. And as has been his history, he came up big when it mattered most.

Law forced the first overtime by tossing in a high-arcing 3-point rainbow over the 6-9 Durant with 1.4 seconds left.

"When I got the ball and saw him guarding me, I just tried to put as much arc on it as I possibly could," Law said. "He made a great contest on the shot and reached up as high as he could, but I was just lucky and fortunate for it to fall."

That shot came shortly after a deep 3-pointer by Durant that put Texas ahead, 76-72, with 20 seconds left.

"I just wanted take a big time shot and I shot it and I made it," said Durant, who recorded his eighth 30-point game. "Texas A&M did a great job of coming back and putting it into overtime and from then on we just played hard."

In the first overtime, freshman Damion James scored six points as the Longhorns took an 87-83 lead with 74 seconds to go.

Law responded by scoring off a steal and then burying another 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to force a second extra session.

"That's one thing we pride ourselves in, is to give unbelievable effort every time we step out on the floor," Law said. "I think our guys did a good job of that and unfortunately for us we fell short. But give credit to Texas, their guys played extremely well tonight and credit to them for coming away with the win."

After A&M's Antanas Kavaliauskas buried a shot clock-beating 3-pointer to tie it at 93-93 with 2:41 to go, Durant hit five free throws, including a pair with 5.3 seconds left for a 98-95 lead.

Determined not to let Law repeat his heroics a third time, Texas intentionally fouled him with 1.4 left to play.

Law hit the first free throw - making him 10-of-10 to that point - and intentionally missed the second, but Chinemelu Elonu couldn't convert the follow shot to end Texas A&M's three-game winning streak.

"There were a lot of big plays made by both teams and it was fun to watch," Aggies coach Billy Gillispie said. "Our guys played as hard as they could possibly play and their guys played as hard as they could possibly play, and it was just a great college basketball game."

Freshman D.J. Augustin scored 25 points and James added a season-high 22 for the Longhorns, who finished with a 15-1 record at home this season.

Kavaliauskas had 18 points and Josh Carter 17 for the Aggies, who finished 13-of-25 from the arc.