Mike Rosario scored 19 points and Patric Young added 18 as No. 10 Florida cruised to a 68-47 victory over Texas A&M on Thursday night.

The Aggies led by one point midway through the first half before a big run by the Gators gave them a 35-18 halftime lead, and they didn’t let up in the second half.

It was a letdown for Texas A&M (12-4, 2-1 Southeastern Conference), which was coming off an 83-71 victory at Kentucky on Saturday. Elston Turner scored a career-high 40 points in that win, but managed just four points Thursday on 1-of-10 shooting.

“We as a coaching staff have made some adjustments on things and we’ve done some different things that has helped,” Donovan said of improving the defense. “You can give them facts and show them where they need to get better and why.”

The Gators were proud of their defense on Turner, who entered the game averaging 17.1 points a game.

“We just didn’t give him a chance to do what he wanted to do,” Young said. “We made him really uncomfortable. Being able to limit a guy that just scored 40 points in his last game was huge.”

Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy knows it’s difficult for Turner with A&M not having another major scoring threat to take pressure off him.

“Their team defense was good,” Kennedy said. “He’s also had nights like that. When you have one primary scorer against a good defensive team … they just physically wore him down and did a good job on him.”

It is the fifth straight win for Florida (13-2, 3-0) which is in the midst of playing four of five games on the road.

Jordan Green had 12 points for the Aggies, while J’Mychal Reese added 10.

Texas A&M scored five straight points, capped by a layup by Kourtney Roberson, to take a 14-13 lead about 9:30 before halftime.

The Gators answered with a 22-4 run over the rest of the first half to take a 35-18 lead. Erik Murphy scored seven points in that span, including a 3-pointer, and Young had six points capped by a dunk to help the run.

Murphy finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Aggies had four turnovers and missed seven shots, including two layups in that span.

“They’re very, very hard to guard,” Kennedy said. “But I think people don’t give them enough credit for their defense.”

Florida entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 52 points a game. Things were no different on Thursday as they limited A&M to a season-low in points on 34 percent shooting.

The Gators have held eight opponents to less than 50 points this season, and 11 to less than 60.

Florida was playing without Casey Prather, who is out 10 to 14 days with a high-ankle sprain. But they were helped by the return of Rosario, who missed a win over LSU on Saturday with a sprained left ankle.

Rosario said he planned to play regardless of how his ankle felt Thursday.

“It felt good out there,” he said. “It felt how it was supposed to feel. I was going to go out there anyway, whether it was 80 percent or 60 percent and thankfully it was 110 percent for my team tonight.”

The Gators scored the first four points of the second half to extend their lead to 21 points and the Aggies never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

A 3-pointer by Alex Caruso got A&M within 46-28 with about 12 minutes remaining. Florida used an 8-0 run after that to extend the lead to 54-28.

Young liked that Florida didn’t let up once it built the lead.

“You want to step on the gas,” he said. “You don’t want to give a team hope that they can come back into the game.”

Texas A&M had a crowd of more than 11,000, which included Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. It was loud early in the game, but Florida’s run in the first half quickly quieted the group.

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The Aces closed the game out by making seven free throws over the final 1:25 on Sunday in their 71-67 victory.

“We were sloppy with the ball”, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said, referring to his team’s season-high turnover total. “Twenty-two turnovers is the story for us. We had to do a better job against a good defensive team like Evansville.”

Colt Ryan had 24 points and eight assists for the Aces (11-6, 4-1), who won their fourth straight conference game.

“Colt Ryan is a very good player. We worked hard to defend him, but he’s a dynamic scorer”, Marshall said of Evansville’s third all-time leading scorer.

There were 16 lead changes and 13 ties in the game. The Shockers’ biggest lead was five points, while the Aces’ was six points. Evansville had a 27-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

Malcolm Armstead had a career-high 21 points for Wichita State (15-2, 4-1).

The Aces had a big advantage at the free throw line.

“We need to get to the line more. 31 free throws to 13 is hard to overcome. Neither half did we get to the bonus,” Marshall said on the difference in free throw attempts. “We shot 54 percent from the field and 59 percent from 3 but we just had too many turnovers. Maybe it was fatigue. Our guys had to play a lot of minutes. But we just can’t throw the ball to the other guys.”

Troy Taylor had 12 points for Evansville and Ned Cox added 10.

“We competed for 40 minutes today,” Evansville head coach Marty Simmons said. “Our guys were very active on defense. I respect Wichita State and the way they do things. They are a real good team and are well coached. They had three starters out with injuries. To compete with them in the manner that we did we are fortunate.”

In the first half there were nine ties and 10 lead changes. The Aces took advantage of 11 turnovers to outscore the visitors 15-0 in points off turnovers in taking a 32-31 halftime lead on a basket by Egidijus Mockevicius with 10 seconds left. Mockevicius finished with nine points.

Armstead, who scored 15 points in the first half including three 3-pointers, was the difference for Wichita State in the first half.

Ryan had 13 points in the first half that saw neither team lead by more than four points.

The Shockers led 50-45 with 10:54 remaining on a 3-pointer Cleanthony Early, who finished 16 points, just over his 15.4 average that leads Wichita State.

The Aces went on a 13-6 run over the next 6:06 to take the lead. Two free throws by Ryan with 4:48 left gave Evansville the lead for good at 58-56.

A layup by Jake White with 26.4 seconds remaining cut the Aces’ lead to 69-67. However, his 3-point attempt with 5 seconds left to tie missed.

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Bradley made his 2012-13 season debut after undergoing a pair of shoulder surgeries while being shelved the past seven months and played just under 20 minutes, scoring four points.

Rondo is battling a hip bruise that caused him to sit out a game last week. He played almost 40 minutes, finishing with 11 points and 10 assists.

Rivers expected Boston’s defense to get a jolt from Bradley’s return, but continued to downplay the “savior” notion that some outside the Boston locker room have promoted.

“I haven’t paid too much attention to all this stuff. Is he (Bill) Russell yet? Or (Bob) Cousy? I don’t know,” quipped Rivers before the game. “If that’s what (the media has) made him, and if he lives up to that, then I’m good with that. I hope everyone’s right.”

Can one great defensive player make a difference for a struggling Boston squad?

“If you take one great defensive player and you put him on a team, the team is going to be a better defensive team,” Rivers said. “And as important as bigs are, I’ve always thought, especially if it’s a guard that applies pressure, that kinda fuels energy. You see it and it’s hard for you not to do it. You got this guy doing it and then, what, are you not going to do anything? It clearly helps.

“Again, because this is his first game this year, the other players have a 30-game advantage on him as far as timing and stuff, as far as running their stuff. I’m not looking for the world today or tomorrow, even in a week. But it’s going to come.”

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