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Tigers take Texas-sized thumping

Running the floor late in the fourth quarter, Missouri walk-on point guard Jimmy Barton pulled up just beyond the three-point line and hit what would be the second trey of his career. The crowd at Mizzou Arena went crazy for the redshirt sophomore and St. Louis native who scored in his second consecutive game.

Barton’s three was about all Missouri fans had to cheer for on Saturday. The Tigers (10-19, 3-13 SEC) fell to Texas A&M (22-7, 11-5 SEC), a likely NCAA Tournament team, 84-69 for their third consecutive loss. Tramaine Isabell led Missouri with 17 points, which tied a career-high he set earlier in the week at Mississippi. With freshman Cullen VanLeer coming off a shoulder injury, Isabell got the start for the Tigers, which was only the second of his career.

K.J. Walton and the Tigers found little success on either end against the Aggies
K.J. Walton and the Tigers found little success on either end against the Aggies

"He gave us a good spark,” Missouri center Ryan Rosburg said. “A lot of good passes, made some shots for us. We’re going to need that the last couple games.”

The Tigers hung with the Aggies early, as they were able to keep pace for the first 14 minutes of the first half. Isabell and Rosburg both got off to quick start scoring wise, which helped keep the game at one-possession for the majority of the first half. Terrence Phillips hit a three to give Missouri a 15-14 lead with 12:28 left in the first half. Six minutes later Isabell connected from behind the arc to cut the Aggies lead to 27-25.

After that it was all downhill.

Despite the Aggies best players in Danuel House and Alex Caruso being on the bench, reserves like Tonny Trocha-Morelos and Admon Gilder helped key a 19-5 run to end the half and blow the game wide open.

“They just had guys step up. I think that’s a Final Four team honestly,” Rosburg said. “They had guys step up when they needed points and I think that ultimately won them the game.”

Missouri trailed by 17 at the half and never came close to closing the gap in the second half. The Aggies led by as many as 27 in the second half. The Tigers ended the game on an 11-0 run to erase some of the deficit but Missouri never got within a dozen after the break.

The Tigers struggled to handle Aggies star freshman Tyler Davis, who missed the last game against Missouri with a foot injury. Davis finished with eight points and seven rebounds, but his presence was felt way beyond the box score.

“He just takes up a lot of space,” Tigers coach Kim Anderson said. “Physically (Davis) is such a big guy. He takes up a lot of space. He’s running the floor late in the fourth quarter, one of those guys you really have to pay attention to when he’s in the post.”

With the loss, Missouri now heads south to Baton Rouge where the Tigers will play LSU on Tuesday night. The other Tigers have Ben Simmons, the presumed No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. It is Mizzou's last chance this season to break a road-losing streak that dates to January 28, 2014.

Click here to see a full photo gallery from Saturday's game.

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