COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Ticker) -- John Lucas showed once again why he is among the most versatile and dependable players in the Big 12.

Lucas scored 18 points and had seven assists as No. 10 Oklahoma State won its fifth straight game, a 66-59 victory over Texas A&M in a conference matchup.

The Cowboys (19-3, 9-2 Big 12) beat the Aggies for the 16th time in 17 meetings and remained 1 1/2 games behind Kansas in the battle for first in the conference standings.

"Games like this make us stronger," Lucas said. "We have to execute at the end. These kind of games give us tremendous confidence. We're an old, mature team that doesn't get rattled. We're clicking and playing good."

Oklahoma State held Texas A&M to one basket during an 8 1/2 minute stretch of the first half and led, 29-23, at the break. Lucas and Daniel Bobik closed the half with 3-pointers for the Cowboys.

Joey Graham took charge early in the second half by scoring 11 points during a 13-2 run, giving the Cowboys a 42-27 advantage. Moments later, Graham went to the bench with his fourth foul.

Ivan McFarlin stepped up in Graham's absence to hit four consecutive buckets, capped by a dunk off an alley-oop pass by Lucas, making the score 54-43 midway through the second half.

Antoine Wright scored seven straight points and Bobby Leach sank two free throws with 85 seconds to go, bringing the Aggies within 62-59, before Lucas found McFarlin for an open layup on the next possession to end the comeback attempt.

"It was good for us to be in a tight game," Cowboys assistant Sean Sutton said. "We won the inside battle by nine rebounds. That's a big reason for the win."

Graham scored 17 points and McFarlin added 13 for Oklahoma State, which shot 61 percent (14-of-23) from the floor in the second half and had a 39-30 rebounding edge.

"Everybody was shooting shots in a hurry," Aggies coach Billy Gillispie said. "We were standing around with the ball too much. We weren't as strong as we needed to be. We dug ourselves too deep a hole. We dug it because we couldn't run our offense."

Acie Law scored 18 points and Wright added 13 for Texas A&M (15-6, 4-6), which lost its second home game in 16 outings at Reed Arena, despite setting an attendance record of 13,106, including former President George Bush.

"They're solid and they're well coached," Law said. "This is one of the best defenses we've played this season. Oklahoma State's defense is just how coach Gillispie coaches us to play. We just need to limit our turnovers and mistakes."