Hayden Hefner scores 24 as Texas A&M routs Houston Christian

Hayden Hefner scored 24 points on 7-for-14 shooting, and Texas A&M pulled away for a 79-52 win over visiting Houston Christian on Friday night in College Station, Texas.

Jace Carter and Wade Taylor IV finished with 10 points apiece for Texas A&M (8-4). Andersson Garcia scored nine points and pulled down a game-high 19 rebounds.

Marcus Greene scored 18 points to lead Houston Christian (2-9), which fell to 0-7 on the road. Tristan Moore contributed 14 points as the only other Huskies player to score in double digits.

The Aggies had a 49-35 advantage in rebounds. They finished with 22 offensive rebounds, compared with nine offensive rebounds for Houston Christian.

Texas A&M built a 40-21 lead at the half.

The Aggies scored the game's first six points before Houston Christian battled back.

The Huskies pulled within 10-9 on a dunk by Michael Imariagbe with 12:09 to go in the first half. Greene assisted on the play.

Texas A&M went on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 19-9 with 10:11 remaining in the half. Hefner drained a 3-pointer to finish off the run.

Houston fought back to cut the deficit to 22-18 with six minutes to go in the half. Nate Hudson drew a foul by Henry Coleman III and made a pair of free throws to pull the Huskies within four.

Texas A&M closed the first half with an 18-3 run to grab a 19-point lead at the break. Carter had a dunk and a 3-pointer as the Aggies seized control.

Houston Christian struggled to keep pace in the second half.

The Aggies increased their lead to as many as 35 points. Eli Lawrence made a layup after a Houston Christian turnover, and it boosted Texas A&M's advantage to 67-32 with 7:06 left.

Houston Christian avoided a sub-50-point performance in the final two minutes. Moore made two free throws with 2:03 left to get the Huskies to the 50-point mark, and Porter Bazil made a layup to finish the scoring with 42 seconds to go.