Freshman center Tyler Davis had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and played a key role in getting Vanderbilt's entire starting front-court in foul trouble as Texas A&M scored a 76-67 victory over the Commodores at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas, on Saturday.

Texas A&M broke the game open in the first seven minutes of the second half, taking an 18-point lead off an open-court steal and easy lay-up from guard Admon Gilder.

Senior forwards Jalen Jones (17 points) and Danuel House (11) were also big for the Aggies (24-7, 13-5 in the Southeastern Conference), who ended the regular season on a six-game winning streak.

The victory clinched a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship with Kentucky, but the Aggies earned the No. 1 seed in the SEC tourmament because they beat the Wildcats in their only meeting this season at College Station.

It's the first conference title for Texas A&M since it shared the now-defunct Southwest Conference crown in 1985-86.

"Man, it's just an unbelievable feeling," Jones said. "They haven't done this in 30 years. It's a very emotional moment right now. I'm just trying to hold back tears.

"I'm just happy we came out conference champions. Man, we worked so hard for this, but we've got more work to do."

Any chance Vanderbilt had was virtually gone by the time its star center, Damian Jones, fouled out with 9:54 left.

"We didn't get it done," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. "We wanted to. We tried hard. Our kids played hard, but it wasn't a case of not playing yard, we just got out-played today.

"Any time we're in a situation where our best players are sitting on the bench for a lot of the game, then we're probably not going to win in an environment like this."

Minutes later, that lead stood at 20 after Davis, who had his way underneath most of the afternoon, converted a free throw, putting A&M up 67-47.

Vanderbilt made a late charge, cutting the margin to 69-59 with possession of the ball. But A&M guard Alex Caruso made an open-court steal and delivered a thundering dunk on the other end for his only field goal of the game with 2:45 remaining.

In a first half of runs, A&M, which led 39-32 at the break, got the last one of the first half, a 10-0 spurt. That answered an 8-0 Vanderbilt run after the Commodores took a 30-29 lead on Jones' lay-up on a feed from guard Wade Baldwin IV and a subsequent free throw.

The biggest play of the run was a four-point possession on which A&M's Jones converted a layup, drew a third foul on Vandy's Jones, and later dunked home an offensive rebound after the Aggies collected the rebound off his missed free throw.

Texas A&M had trouble operating inside due to Vanderbilt forward Luke Kornet, who swatted away four shots in the game's first six minutes.

But the Aggies kept pounding it inside and hit some tough shots, including nine points on a 3-of-4 effort in the first half from Davis.

Kornet's effectiveness also waned as the junior, playing in his home state, picked up his fourth foul in the second half.

Nine of A&M's first-half points came on second-chance opportunities on the Aggies' 10 offensive rebounds. A 10-2 turnover advantage in the Aggies' favor was another reason for the A&M lead.

"It wasn't any pressure by them," Stallings said, when asked about Vanderbilt's problems. "They play defense much like we do, in terms of being packed in and that sort of thing, and we were just careless and tried to force it in some.

"They did some things different defensively, nothing that we hadn't seen. ... In the first half, I didn't think we took good-enough care of the ball."

It also got easier for the Aggies due to Vanderbilt's foul trouble. Two Vanderbilt starters, forward Jeff Roberson and Jones, both picked up their third fouls well before halftime.

Saturday's win capped an up-and-down conference season for the Aggies, who started the SEC season with seven wins and then lost five in a row before winning out from Feb. 16 on.

The Aggies' Jones said that the team's resiliency is a product of the culture around the program.

"We just stuck together," Jones said. "We haven't had any negative energy in the locker room. We knew that in order to be a great team, you've got to go through adversity.

"The coach just told us to keep working and keep fighting in practice, and that translated to the games. We eventually got it back together."

The victory avenged a 77-60 loss to Vanderbilt on Feb. 4.

Vanderbilt's Jones (11 points) shared the team lead in scoring, despite playing only 19 minutes.

NOTES: A&M G Anthony Collins was taken to the locker room early in the second half after an apparent head injury in a loose-ball situation. He did not return. ... The Aggies honored six seniors in Senior Day festivities. Honorees were Collins, G Juan Aparicio, G Alex Caruso, G/F Jalen Jones, G Danuel House and G Kyle Dobbins. Collins, Jones, Caruso and House started, while Aparicio and Dobbins entered for the only time in the game’s final seconds. ... Vanderbilt C Luke Kornet, who entered the game eighth in the country in blocked shots per game (2.84), finished with six. It's the sixth time he has blocked at least five shots despite playing only 26 of the team's 31 games. ... A 3-pointer by Matthew Fisher-Davis only 5:09 in was Vanderbilt's 962nd-straight game with at least one basket from beyond the arc.