NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Trailing by one in the final 10 seconds, Texas A&M stripped the ball away from Oklahoma's Steven Pledger in a last-ditch bid for the turnover it desperately needed.

The ball trickled out of bounds at what proved to be a critical juncture in the game, and officials couldn't agree on who should get it.

Possession went to the Sooners, and so did the game.

Romero Osby scored a career-high 24 points and Oklahoma held off Texas A&M for a 65-62 win Saturday after catching a key break in the closing seconds.

"It kind of epitomizes our whole season. Just another bad break," Aggies coach Billy Kennedy said. "We thought it went out on them but I wasn't real pleased with the officiating most of the game.

"But you've got to put yourselves in situations where one possession isn't that big. Unfortunately, it was a big possession."

Sam Grooms was fouled on the inbounds pass after Oklahoma was awarded the ball based on the possession arrow, and he hit both free throws in a one-and-one situation.

Grooms, a 64 percent foul shooter, admitted being "a little bit scared at first."

"Ro had enough faith to give me the ball," Grooms said. "I had no other choice. You've got to go up to the line in the last seconds and you've got to make those shots to build more confidence in your teammates so they have more confidence in you, so the next time they'll do it again and again."

Dash Harris brought the ball up for Texas A&M, and Elston Turner missed a deep 3-pointer from the right wing to try to force overtime.

"It's a good win for our guys," Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. "Obviously a ballgame that could've gone either way."

Both teams came in having lost eight of their previous nine games and tied for eighth place in the conference standings. Their previous meeting in College Station was won by Texas A&M (13-17, 4-14 Big 12) in overtime.

After another close one, they'll play a rubber game Wednesday night in the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Oklahoma (15-15, 5-13) got the eighth seed and the chance to wear its home jerseys by virtue of the win.

"It's going to come down to the toughest team — toughness and who competes the hardest, I think, on a neutral floor because both teams have proven that we're pretty much the same in a lot of areas," Kennedy said.

"I think we have some of the same deficiencies and we have some of the same strengths at times."

The Sooners led by as many as 14 early in the second half before A&M rallied and had a chance to take the lead in the final minute.

Khris Middleton missed a jumper that would have put the Aggies ahead with 53 seconds left.

Osby then converted an open layup off a play drawn up by Kruger during a timeout, and Middleton answered with a driving layup with 16.5 seconds left.

The Aggies smothered Pledger, Oklahoma's best free-throw shooter, and were able to knock the ball out of his hands with 9.8 seconds left. Official Tom O'Neill said the play wasn't subject to an instant replay review.

"If they don't know it, that's the right call to make," Kennedy said. "I don't think they're able to go to the monitor in a situation like that in a non-violent situation.

"But they should have been able to make that call."

David Loubeau led Texas A&M with 15 points, Middleton scored 14 and Turner finished with 11.

Andrew Fitzgerald added 10 points and seven rebounds for Oklahoma, which took control by outscoring A&M by 15 points during a 10-minute span bridging halftime.

Loubeau led the Aggies back with seven points during a 16-6 rally, and Turner's steal and fast-break layup cut the deficit to 51-47 with 9:24 to play. A&M never had the ball with a chance to take the lead until the final minute.

"If we could have ever took the lead, it would have been a big, big help and put a little more pressure on them because both of us struggle winning close games at the end," Kennedy said.

The Sooners were outscored in the second half for the 13th straight game but managed to build up a big enough cushion to hold on.

Kruger squeezed in some first-half minutes for seldom-used senior reserves T.J. Franklin and Barry Honore in their final home game at the Lloyd Noble Center. Fellow senior C.J. Washington had a putback early in a 13-5 run that propelled the Sooners to a 33-26 halftime lead.

Osby then had three buckets during a 12-2 run early in the second half for the Sooners, doubling the halftime lead to 45-31 after Grooms' two free throws with 15:52 remaining.

Texas A&M rallied but fell to 2-17 this season when allowing at least 60 points.

"We're not good enough offensively to have to do that and it showed," Kennedy said. "I thought that we were lethargic at times.

"You can't give a team a 14-point lead on their home floor when you struggle to score like we did."