Taylor sets school scoring mark as No. 22 Texas A&M beats LSU 66-52

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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Wade Taylor IV scored 17 points to become Texas A&M's all-time scoring leader as the 22nd-ranked Aggies beat LSU 66-52 on Saturday in the SEC regular-season finale for both teams.

The Aggies (22-9, 11-7 Southeastern) were coming off Tuesday’s home upset of No. 1 Auburn.

Taylor has amassed 1,999 points in his four seasons with the Aggies, surpassing Bernard King, who scored 1,990 from 1999-2003.

Texas A&M, the nation’s leading offensive rebounding team, went to work in the second half when it converted 10 offensive rebounds into 10 points. The Aggies finished with 14 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points.

Jordan Sears led LSU (14-17, 3-15) with 21 points.

Texas A&M: Aggies senior guard Taylor, who missed three of their first four SEC games healing from a knee injury, is his team’s undisputed key to a deep postseason run. Taylor, who has averaged 15.4 points in eight career games vs. LSU, scored 11 (including going 3 of 3 on 3-pointers) of A&M’s first 15 points on Saturday in the opening 5:11.

LSU: Tigers’ fifth-year senior transfer guard Sears can blow very hot or extremely cold.

In a 15-3 A&M rally that broke a 34-34 tie and gave the Aggies a 49-37 lead in the first 10:30 of the second half, A&M grabbed seven offensive rebounds, leading to 11 second-chance points.

The Aggies outrebounded the Tigers 28-13 in the second half to finish with a 42-27 advantage.

LSU is set as the No. 15 seed in the SEC Tournament in Nashville. The Tigers will play in Wednesday’s first round, vs. No. 10 seed Mississippi State. Texas A&M is projected as the No. 5 seed and will open play in Thursday’s second round vs. either Vanderbilt, Texas or Oklahoma. The Aggies are a projected No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament as one of 12 SEC teams predicted to receive invites.

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