DENVER — Pharrel Payne had a career-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Wade Taylor IV had 16 points, and No. 4 seed Texas A&M beat No. 13 seed Yale 80-71 in the first round of the South Region on Thursday night.Jace Carter added 10 points for the Aggies (23-10), who will face the winner of UC San Diego-Michigan in the second round on Saturday night.John Poulakidas scored 23 points, Nick Townsend had 15, Isaac Celiscar finished with 12 points and Casey Simmons contributed 11 points for the Bulldogs.Yale (22-8) could not duplicate its 2024 first-round upset of a fourth-seeded SEC team. The Bulldogs beat Auburn, 78-76, in last year’s tournament.Yale got some momentum behind Poulakidas early in the second half. The Bulldog trailed 51-40 when Poulakidas hit a jumper to cut the lead to single digits. Then, Townsend stole Manny Obaseki’s pass. Townsend went up for a layup, but Obaseki recovered to block it. Solomon Washington threw the loose ball out of bounds off Mbeng.The Aggies went ahead by 12 but Riley Fox made a pair of 3-pointers and Towsend a short hook to pull Yale within 58-52 with 8:36 remaining.