Hogs struggle in road test

BOX SCORE: Texas A&M 69, Arkansas 53

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Texas A&M freshman Davonte Fitzgerald led the way with 17 points as the Aggies toppled Arkansas 69-53 in Reed Arena in the teams' Southeastern Conference opener.

A&M (10-4) entered the contest shooting 29.9 percent from the 3-point line, but finished 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) against the Razorbacks (11-3) in an unusual display of collective hot hands from the outside. Meanwhile the Aggies' defense held Arkansas to 4 of 19 percent (21.1 percent) from the 3-point line.

Fabyon Harris and Jamal Jones chipped in 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Aggies, while Rashad Madden led the Razorbacks with a dozen points. The Razorbacks' leading scorer entering the game, Mike Qualls, was held to two points in making 1 of 12 shots from the field.

Arkansas threatened to slice A&M's 56-48 lead with five minutes remaining, but Aggies forward Kourtney Roberson offered up a monstrous slam dunk and on the opposite end of the floor, A&M guard Jordan Green collected a blocked shot and hustled the length of the floor for a layup, in lifting A&M to a 60-48 margin with 4:51 on the clock.

Earlier in the half, A&M stretched its lead to double digits for the first time at 49-39 with 12:17 remaining when Fitzgerald smoothly drained a 3-pointer from just left of the top of the key.