Anaheim, CA -- (Sports Network) - Josh Carter tied a career high with 26 points, including six three-pointers, but it was Dominique Kirk's three that put the West Region first-round contest on ice, as Texas A&M escaped BYU, 67-62.

Carter drained four three-pointers early, then penetrated for points in the second half. Bryan Davis was an efficient 5-of-7 from the floor for 11 points with seven rebounds, and Joseph Jones notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds for the ninth-seeded Aggies (25-10), who will face top seed UCLA in the second round on Saturday.

Jonathan Tavernari led eighth-seeded BYU (27-8) with 15 points and Lee Cummard added 14 points. Trent Plaisted added 13 points and Jimmer Fredette totaled 10 points in the loss. The Cougars made just 7-of-22 from beyond the arc and only 7-of-14 from the foul line.

Neither team could break free in the second half. Cummard's trey put the Cougars up 43-41 with 13:29 on the clock. Almost five minutes later, Carter worked his way for inside position and tipped in Kirk's miss for a 49-48 lead.

The lead grew to 52-48 before Tavernari's trey with 4:38 on the clock. Kirk again made it a four-point game at 57-53 on his three-pointer with 3:32 remaining, but the Cougars again clawed back.

Plaisted's jumper cut the deficit to 59-57 with two minutes to play, but the Aggies reeled off four straight capped by Donald Sloan's two free throws.

Fredette's three with 1:01 to go made it a one-possession game at 63-60, but Kirk spotted up on the right wing and drained a game-clinching three off dribble penetration with 27 seconds remaining.

"My teammates just told me keep shooting it's going to fall for us, and, you know, just going out there and just believing in it and just hitting them two threes, it just felt good," said Kirk about the back-breaking treys.

The Aggies came out firing from the perimeter at the outset thanks to consecutive treys from Carter. Jones scored from inside the paint before Carter drained a long-distance jumper once again.

During Carter's early three-point barrage, the Cougars couldn't find the bottom of the net. Cummard's follow-up off Chris Miles' miss finally put BYU on the scoreboard at 11-2 just over six minutes into the contest.

"We didn't start the game with a lot of energy, playing flat, and we were rushing shots and not taking shots that we normally take," surmised Cummard.

The Cougars sneaked back into the game later in the half, as Texas A&M went on a scoring slump of its own. Trailing 22-12 after Kirk's jumper, the Cougars got buckets from Tavernari and Cummard to trim the deficit to 22-16.

Tavernari's three brought the Cougars all of the way back to even at 26-26 with 1:59 left in the half. Fredette and Carter exchanged treys right before the half for a 29-29 game. Carter had a game-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting after 20 minutes.

Game Notes

The teams have split two all-time meetings...BYU fell to 11-26 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. It has dropped its last six tournament contests....The Aggies shot 54.3 percent from the floor and made 8-of-16 from beyond the arc...Like BYU, Texas A&M struggled from the charity stripe, finishing 9-of-17 on free throws.