A&M Hoops Loses in Four OT's

The Texas Aggie basketball team dropped a marathon four overtime heartbeaker to the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday at Reed Arena.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Trae Golden scored a career-high 32 points to lead Tennessee to its fifth straight win, a 93-85 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday in a marathon four-overtime game.

The Volunteers were up by one point in the fourth overtime when Golden made four straight points to make it 85-80. Elston Turner missed a shot for A&M before Skylar McBee's 3-pointer pushed Tennessee's lead to 88-80. McBee made a pair of free throws with less than a minute left to pad the lead, and the Volunteers held on for the win.

It was the first four-overtime game for Tennessee (16-10, 8-6 Southeastern Conference), and the most extra periods the Aggies (16-11, 6-8) have played since dropping a 116-110 five-overtime game to Baylor on Jan. 23, 2008.

Turner had 38 points to lead the Aggies.

Jordan McRae added 23 points for Tennessee, and Jarnell Stokes had 20 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks.

Stokes blocked a layup by Jarod Jahns and was fouled on the rebound, but he missed both free throws with 40 seconds left in the third overtime to leave Tennessee up 79-77. Jahns made a layup to tie it with 9 seconds left, and J'Mychal Reese stole the ball from Golden to send it to the fourth overtime.

Turner scored the first four points of the second overtime, before a 3-pointer by Golden. The teams exchanged baskets before a jump shot by Golden tied it at 75. Just as in regulation and the first overtime, Texas A&M had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but the Aggies couldn't make the shot.

In the first overtime, Ray Turner grabbed a steal on a pass by McRae with 25 seconds left and Tennessee immediately fouled Fabyon Harris.

He sank both free throws to make it 68-64 before Golden cut the lead to two points on a layup with 19 seconds left.

Tennessee fouled Reese three seconds later, and he made one of the free throws.

McRae tied it at 69-all on a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left in overtime.

Josh Richardson blocked a layup by Harris with two seconds left. The Aggies got the rebound, butElston Turner's jump shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer to force the second overtime.

At the end of regulation, McRae missed a 3-pointer for the Volunteers, but Stokes grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 5.9 seconds left. He made the first free throw, but missed the second one to tie it at 62-all.

A 3-pointer by Reese clanged off the rim at the buzzer to send it to overtime.

The Volunteers were up by three when Texas A&M used a 10-2 spurt to take a 50-45 lead with about eight minutes left. Turner led the Aggies in that run with six points and a steal.

It was the sixth overall meeting between these new SEC opponents, and the first since a 108-84 win by the Volunteers on Dec. 2, 2003.

Harris returned after missing Wednesday's game with a sprained ankle to score 13 points, and Reese added 15 for A&M.