COLUMBIA, Mo. _ It's hard to blow a double-digit lead late in a game and sneak away with a victory. Trying to do so twice tempts a team's luck.
Consider the Missouri Tigers lucky. The Tigers beat No. 21 Texas A&M 62-58 on Tuesday after leading by double figures for much of the second half, including with just more than 5 minutes remaining.
But then the Aggies went on a 8-0 run that featured two T.J. Starks 3-pointers. The first one caused Mizzou forward Kevin Puryear to tilt his head back in frustration while running up the court. The second made it a three-point game and forced a Missouri timeout.
Maybe the Tigers hadn't gotten their fill of drama in their last game, when they blew a 12-point lead with fewer than 2 minutes remaining against Mississippi State only to later win in overtime.
This time, the Tigers made this interesting even after they seemed to have recovered from the Aggies' late push.
With Mizzou up one point, Jordan Geist cut off Starks' path to the lane as the buzzer sounded, forcing a shot-clock violation with 19 seconds remaining. Kassius Robertson fumbled an inbound pass, and the Aggies had one more chance to tie the game, but a Robert Williams layup rimmed out.
Anyway, a win is a win, even if it feels more like a reason to exhale than celebrate.
Jordan Barnett and Robertson combined for 31 points and five 3-pointers for MU.
Both teams had come in winners of four straight. The Aggies (17-9, 6-7) had worked themselves back into the national rankings, and this win practically seals Missouri's NCAA Tournament berth before the Tigers (18-8, 8-5) even _ maybe _ bring back star freshman Michael Porter Jr.
Even without Porter, the Tigers have some pretty good freshmen, and two of them _ post players Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon _ drew the most important matchups on Tuesday. Texas A&M starts junior center Tyler Davis and Williams, a sophomore and one of the SEC's preseason players of the year.
Those two, along with reserve forward Tonny Trocha-Morelos, had bullied Mizzou the last time these teams played. MU coach Cuonzo Martin called it a "good learning experience" for the young Tigers post players at the time.
The lesson mostly resonated.
Porter and Tilmon combined for 25 points and 12 rebounds. Williams was effective against them, with 10 points and 9 rebounds, but Davis made just two shots for 5 points. Trocha-Morelos was scoreless.
Tilmon, who had some offensive success against the Aggies when the Tigers last played them, was aggressive early. Mizzou posted him up on its first possession, and midway through the first half Tilmon backed Davis down and scored on a hook shot to tie the game. Davis also picked up his second personal foul on the play, which meant he played just 8 minutes in the first half.
Tilmon and Porter led a 9-3 second-half run that ended with two free throws by Tilmon that put the Tigers up 11 points. The margin hung around there until the Aggies' late push.
