Texas A&M used tough defense down the stretch to beat Texas Southern 58-55 on Monday night in College Station, Texas.

Savion Flagg led Texas A&M (6-5) with 18 points. Josh Nebo had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Aggies, and Jay Jay Chandler also scored 10 points.

John Jones and Yahuza Rasas scored 15 points apiece for Texas Southern (3-10). Tyrik Armstrong scored 11 points, and Rasas pulled down 11 boards.

The Aggies led 55-54 with 2:16 left and then shut out the Tigers over the next two minutes.

Three made free throws enabled the Aggies to gain a 58-54 lead with 12 seconds left. Texas Southern's Eden Ewing made one free throw in the final second of regulation to provide the game-ending three-point margin.

There were a few occasions when it seemed Texas A&M might be able to win comfortably, but the Tigers responded each time. The Aggies bolted to a quick 8-1 lead, but Texas Southern rallied for an 18-16 lead with seven minutes left in the first half. Texas A&M rebuilt its lead to 25-18, but Texas Southern narrowed that deficit to 27-24 at halftime.

Early in the second half, Texas Southern retook the lead at 28-27 on a Tyrik Armstrong layup, and then two big runs occurred that illustrated the back-and-forth nature of a game in which neither side led by more than eight points.

Texas A&M went on a 9-0 run for a 36-28 lead, capped by a Flagg 3-pointer. Texas Southern promptly responded with a 10-0 counter to take a 38-36 lead with 11:44 remaining in regulation after Rasas' second consecutive layup. That set up a nip-and-tuck battle down the stretch, with neither side establishing any offensive flow.

Neither team hit a field goal in the last 2:53 of regulation. Texas Southern, down 55-54, had a chance to go ahead with 33 seconds left, but Jones missed a jumper. The Tigers were down 56-54 with a chance to tie, but Armstrong missed a layup with 15 seconds left. Flagg sank two foul shots with 12 seconds left to seal the win for the Aggies.

--Field Level Media