Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy was wondering if his team would ever going to make a shot after it started 3 of 22 from the field in Wednesday night's Southeastern Conference game at Mississippi State.

As it turned out, the 21st-ranked Aggies managed to make just enough shots to escape with a 61-60 decision at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Miss.

In improving to 12-2 overall and 2-0 in the SEC, Texas A&M canned only 30.6 percent of its field goal tries, but compensated with 20 offensive rebounds, giving it 13 more attempts than the Bulldogs, and also hit 9 of 12 free throws in the second half.

"It wasn't our best night offensively, but we stayed the course," Kennedy said. "Our players showed a tremendous amount of toughness and grit to come in here and get the win. This was a tough place to play."

Forward Jalen Jones snapped the game's 10th tie when he made a layup with 20.7 seconds left to give the Aggies a 59-57 lead. Mississippi State guard Craig Sword tried to drive for the tying bucket, but A&M guard Anthony Collins stole the ball with 6.5 seconds remaining.

Reserve freshman guard Admon Gilder converted a one-and-one with 5.7 seconds on the clock, providing the necessary insurance against a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by reserve guard Quinndary Weatherspoon which set the final score.

Jones, Caruso and forward DJ Hogg each tallied 11 points for the balanced Aggies, which played without guard Danuel House, their leading scorer at 15.2 points per game. Gilder added 10.

Caruso also added eight assists and seven rebounds, and drew a key foul that led to his one-and-one conversion with a minute remaining that provided A&M with a 57-55 edge.

"You look at their stats, and with the exception of Caruso, no one played how they normally played," Bulldogs coach Ben Howland said. "He was the difference-maker for them to win on the road."

Except for the endgame and the last four minutes of the first half, when they used a 15-4 run to take a 28-25 halftime lead, the Aggies struggled with Mississippi State's 2-3 zone. While A&M did miss its share of good looks, it also settled for a spate of shots under duress from the shot clock or from the Bulldogs.

"They took us out of our stuff," Kennedy said. "They are long and athletic and they presented us with some problems. We had a tough time shooting through contact."

Kennedy specifically mentioned forward Gavin Ware, a 6-9, 260-pound side of beef who sparked Mississippi State's offense in the second half. Ware scored all 15 of his points after halftime and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

Freshman guard Malik Newman added 14 points, although he missed a pair of key free throws in the final two minutes. Weatherspoon tallied 12.

Howland was proud of his team's effort, but disturbed at how the Aggies gained the lead for good.

"The tough part is that we had the game tied with 40 seconds left and we give up a layup," he said. "Maybe that was a lack of communication."

The game was played with only two officials for about the last 25 minutes after Don Daily departed with an apparent leg injury.

NOTES: Texas A&M F Jalen Jones was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in wins over Cal Poly and Arkansas. ... Mississippi State honored former coach Rick Stansbury, currently an associate coach for the Aggies, in a pregame ceremony. Stansbury won a school-record 293 games in 14 seasons as the Bulldogs' coach. ... Mississippi State entered the night as the SEC leaders in free throw percentage with an impressive 74.8 mark. It made just 12-of-18 in this game.