In the opening five minutes of Texas A&M’s 76-73 victory over Missouri Wednesday night, the Aggies jumped out to a 10-0 lead and appeared to have scared the Tigers out of Reed Arena.

Missouri (6-17; 1-10 SEC) fought back though and erased A&M’s large lead within two minutes, which ended up being the theme of the game as A&M would build leads but would constantly allow the SEC’s second-worst team back into the game.

“Any kind of win is a good win,” A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said after the game. “We showed glimpses of being pretty good at times and being pretty bad at times. Missouri played with good effort and never gave up. Sometimes our guys played up 10 and thought it was over. We showed shades of immaturity instead of just raising the level and pulling away.”

The Aggies (13-10; 5-6 SEC) sealed the deal when Admon Gilder made a layup with 37 seconds left giving them a 76-68 lead. Missouri was able to close the gap to three with two seconds left but ran out of time in its comeback attempt.

Gilder led A&M in scoring with 22 points after a stellar night, going 6-for-10 from three-point range. The sophomore now has scored at least 20 points in four of A&M’s last five games.

“Give him a little time and he’s going to make it,” Kennedy said regarding Gilder’s three-point form. “He’s in the gym more than anyone. He puts in work. We’ve just got to get help from other guys.”

Freshman Robert Williams had a career-high 18 points and 16 rebounds while notching his sixth double-double of the season. The Vivian, Louisiana native played a big role in A&M dominating the glass with 40 boards compared to Missouri’s 28.

“When I got subbed out at first, my teammate Frank [Byers] told me that I already had three rebounds, so I was like this is my rebounding game,” Williams said of his double-double. “I planned to get the rebounds anyway so I was just attacking the boards.”

Tonny Trocha-Morelos added 16 points (a career high) and Tyler Davis scored 10, making it four players in double-figures for the maroon and white.

After struggling throughout most of the night, D.J. Hogg found some rhythm toward the end and scored a crucial three with three minutes remaining that gave A&M a five-point lead.

Kennedy said he thought Hogg did well at the end and was happy with his six assists but that the reason he continues to come off the bench is due to his performance.

“He needs to practice better and be better when he’s in the game,” Kennedy said. “We have some guys that I’m not able to take out when they hit a bad shot because I don’t have confidence in the bench. So those guys have to be very good every possession.”

Jordan Barnett was the primary reason the Tigers would just not go away. The junior forward who came in averaging 11.5 points per game came off the bench and was feeling it as he scored 23 points on 9-of-13 attempts.

“I’m proud of our guys for hanging in there,” Missouri head coach Kim Anderson said. “I thought Jordan Barnett gave us a boost. He came in and made some shots. You can see his athleticism with some of the plays he made. It just seems whenever we got close we just couldn’t get it.”

With the win, A&M moves to 5-6 in SEC play. They’ll get a chance to get back to .500 when they travel to Gainesville to take on the SEC leader No. 17 Florida on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN2.