In a game filled with runs, Taylor’s floater with 1:02 left in the second half put a wild game out of reach as the Aggies (17-13, 8-9 SEC) held on to beat the Bulldogs (19-11, 8-9 SEC) 75-69 Wednesday night before 8,163 at Reed Arena. The Aggies never trailed, but still found a way to make things interesting.

In the first half, the runs were mostly individual. Making his second consecutive start, guard Manny Obaseki (team-high 17 points) exploded out of the gate, making his first four shots, including two 3-pointers, to score 11 of A&M’s first 21 points as the Aggies jumped out to a 21-11 lead.

Then it was Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard’s turn. Hubbard (game-high 24 points) scored 13 points, including three 3’s, as the Bulldogs cut A&M’s lead to 24-22 with 6:46 to go in the half. With the Aggies still up just 2 at the 5:05 mark, forward Solomon Washington (15 points) went on his own scoring rampage. He scored and was fouled on two consecutive possessions, making the free throws both times. After a Mississippi State basket, Washington sank a 3-pointer to put A&M back up 7. He would add another basket in between a pair of 3s by Taylor (13 points) as the Aggies took a 13-point lead into the locker room.

“I thought Solo was tremendous,” coach Buzz Williams said.

A&M shot 60% from the field, including 70% from 3-point range, in the first stanza.

“They had guys, Obaseki, (Andersson) Garcia and Washington, who I wouldn’t call prolific 3-point shooters, step up and hit four 3-pointers,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said.

The Aggies outscored Mississippi State 16-6 after Hubbard picked up his third foul with 4:32 left. Hubbard remained on the bench to start the second half to watch Boots Radford (14 points), playing in his final home game, go off for 9 quick points as the Aggies pushed their lead out to 23 points at 55-32 with 16:57 to go in the game.

Though it didn’t seem like an issue at the time, Washington went down with a twisted ankle on A&M’s first offensive possession of the second half. A number of problems piled on at once, as the Aggies went away from a more up-tempo offense in the first half to their regular slow pace — and the A&M stopped shooting at the same time. They hit just one of 11 3-point attempts after halftime.

“We threw everything we could at them to muck the game up,” Jans said.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, caught fire. They hit three consecutive 3’s in just 1:08 as part of a 15-0 run that ballooned to a 22-4 surge that cut A&M’s lead to 5.

“It was like a house on fire,” Radford said. “What’s going on? How do we put it out?”

Williams said the constant switching by Mississippi State on defense contributed to A&M’s offensive struggles during the Bulldogs’ big run.

“They kept changing. They were 2-2-1, they were box and 1 on (Taylor), then they were 1-3-1,” he said. “We were never in a good groove. Our rhythm was bad, our execution was bad, and we weren’t getting any stops.”

Washington returned at the 10:22 mark of the second half, which seemed to stabilize the Aggies.

“I kind of came down wrong, but I knew I had to come back,” he said.

Washington would add another 3-point play with just under five minutes to go to put the Aggies back up 68-61 and give A&M some breathing room, but Mississippi State didn’t fold.

Baskets by Hubbard and D.J. Jeffries (6 points) got the Bulldogs within 3 at 70-67, but Obaseki made a driving layup with 1:55 left to give A&M a 5-point lead. A dunk by Cameron Mathews got Mississippi State back to within 3. The Aggies struggled to find a good shot, with Taylor firing up a 3 with 1:09 left that was short, but Washington grabbed the offensive rebound and got the ball back to Taylor. Given a second chance, Taylor sank the back-breaker.

“I get yelled at if I don’t get rebounds, and I didn’t want to get yelled at,” said Washington, who had a team-high 9 on the night. “Buzz was looking at me with that stare, so yeah, I had to go get that one.”

Appropriately enough, Washington scored the final point on a free throw to give A&M their final margin of victory.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole,” Jans said. “Tonight was the Super Bowl (for Mississippi State).”

On the other hand, Williams noted that A&M’s NCAA Tournament hopes remain alive with the win. A victory Saturday at Ole Miss would give the Aggies a .500 record in conference play, 18 wins and the seventh seed in the SEC Tournament.

“I do believe we're still in control (of their destiny), and I think that's a good position to be in,” he said. “But I'm wise enough to understand that we're not there. And so we have work to do.”