By RICHARD CROOME

Eagle Staff Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Brigham Young dared Texas A&M and Josh Carter to make outside shots. The Aggies and Carter obliged, and because of it, the West Region's No. 9 seed Aggies moved on to a second-round game against top-seeded UCLA.

A&M scored the first 11 points, staved off a BYU rally and executed almost perfectly down the stretch for 67-62 victory over the No. 8 seed BYU Cougars at the Honda Center.

A&M will play UCLA (32-3) at 8:15 p.m Saturday. UCLA beat Mississippi Valley State 70-29 in the first round.

Carter led the nation in 3-point shooting at 50 percent last year, but he'd hit just 37 percent this season entering the NCAA Tournament.

"My teammates kept telling me all week to just keep shooting, and it would begin to fall for you," Carter said. "It was great to be able to get off to a great start."

BYU (24-8) packed its defense inside and gave Carter an extra step of space on the perimeter. Carter took advantage of it early and finished with 26 points, tying his career high.

The Cougars' defensive game plan looked a lot different from the tight coverage Carter's been working against for much of his junior season.

"I got three wide open looks early," Carter said. "But after I knocked those three down, they started facing up on me. Early they didn't guard me, then they started guarding me just like everybody else."

But Carter brought more than his long-range game, tipping in rebounds, hitting floaters in the paint and even dunking once. He finished 10 of 16 from the field, 6 of 10 from behind the arc and pulled down five rebounds.

"We were slow, and he was quick to start the game," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Those big players screen you really hard, and we were getting hung up. That gave him extra time to shoot it."

Rose put Sam Burgess on Carter, and that helped the Cougars slow down the hot-shooting Aggie. But by then, Carter's teammates were ready to take advantage of a worn-out BYU squad.

"Sam got on [Carter], stopped him getting as many catches and we controlled him better," Rose said, "but that caused problems with the dribble penetration."

Carter scored most of his points over the first 30 minutes, but his presence opened things up for others over the final 10. And A&M had to rally.

BYU's Trent Plaisted dunked to give the Cougars a 48-47 lead. Carter scored to put the Aggies up for good at 49-48, then Joseph Jones helped keep the Mountain West Conference champion Cougars at bay by making 3 of 4 free throws.

A&M's Dominique Kirk made the first of his two 3-pointers with 3:25 left. Donald Sloan then drove the lane for a basket that put A&M ahead 59-55.

BYU cut A&M's lead to 63-60 on a Jimmer Fredette 3-pointer just as the PA announcer called out 1 minute to play.

On A&M's next possession, Beau Muhlbach drove the baseline and looked to put up a shot but instead found a wide-open Kirk on the perimeter. With the shot clock winding down, Kirk buried the 3 and the Cougars with 27 seconds left.

"I saw a defender running out at me, so I decided to drive it," Muhlbach said. "Initially, I was looking for a layup, but I saw Dominique wide open and thought that would probably be a better shot than a contested layup by their big man. So I kicked it out to Dominique."

Muhlbach raced back to get on defense but not before giving his fellow senior a high-five.

"I think over the last 10 minutes we were as good as we've been in awhile," A&M head coach Mark Turgeon said. "Josh forced one shot and then had a silly foul, but besides that, I can't think of many things these kids didn't do right. On a big-time stage, they stepped up for me and really executed."

A&M's solid play in crunch time mirrored its fast start.

BYU burned a timeout with 16:18 left in the first half after Jones scored inside to give A&M an 8-0 lead. Carter had made two 3-pointers before the timeout, then buried a third coming out of it to put A&M ahead 11-0.

The Aggies were reaping the rewards of close film study. BYU had played three schools with two big post players (Michigan State, Louisville and North Carolina), and Turgeon said the Aggies saw a Cougar defensive pattern unveil itself over those three games.

"They doubled the post every time," Turgeon said. "We watched so much film, I can't tell you, so we knew exactly what they were going to do."

A&M took advantage, shooting 54 percent from the floor. Bryan Davis hit 5 of 7 shots for 11 points, while Jones added 10 points.

NOTES -- The last time Carter had room to shoot, he hit a career-high eight 3-pointers against Nebraska last season. ... Neither team shot well from the free-throw line, with A&M hitting 9 of 17 and BYU 7 of 14. BYU entered shooting 72 percent for the season with A&M at 67 percent. ... A&M played UCLA at the Honda Center last season, losing 65-62 in the John Wooden Classic. ... Sloan had a game-high six assists and only one turnover. ... BYU made 7 of 22 3-point attempts.

• Richard Croome's e-mail is richard.croome@theeagle.com.