By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
STILLWATER, Okla. – Nothing ever appears to return straightforward in a Big 12 Conference that at one level had all 10 groups projected to make the NCAA Tournament discipline. Not even a 17-point lead with lower than three minutes remaining.
That was the place seventh-ranked Baylor discovered itself in Monday night time at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Surviving a late 15-2 run by the Oklahoma State Cowboys that included three-straight 3-pointers, the shorthanded Bears held on for a 74-68 win to nail down a top-4 seed for subsequent week’s Big 12 Tournament and preserve alive their faint hopes of a third-consecutive convention title.
“Well, that’s the Big 12, a game can’t be decided until it gets down to five points with under a minute to go,” stated Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose workforce improved to 22-8 total and on their lonesome in third place at 11-6. “Credit Oklahoma State for tremendous fight down the stretch. Credit them with 22 offensive rebounds. They competed, they played hard.”
Already lacking freshman guard Keyonte George with a sprained ankle, the Bears misplaced redshirt freshman Langston Love early within the first half with a scratched cornea on his left eye.
For the second recreation in a row, senior guard Dale Bonner got here to the rescue. After coming off the bench to attain 13 factors in Saturday’s win over Texas, Bonner topped that with a Baylor career-high 15 factors to go along with 4 assists and two steals in 33 minutes.
“Dale, another tremendous game,” Drew stated of Bonner, who scored in double-digit figures in back-to-back video games for the primary time in his two seasons at Baylor. “Gave us a huge lift. Hopefully, we can get Langston’s eye right. He could only see with one eye.”
LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler each hit three 3-pointers and scored 15 and 13 factors, respectively, whereas Jalen Bridges had back-to-back 3-pointers in a second half run and scored 14 earlier than fouling out late.
“Credit our guys for a lot of fight,” Drew stated. “We didn’t have Keyonte, Langston went out with an eye injury, and then we had several guys foul out. Next man up really helped us.”
After Baylor jumped out to a 14-4 lead within the first six minutes, Oklahoma State (16-14, 7-10) obtained again inside three, 19-16, when Caleb Asberry knocked down a pair of free throws after Drew was whistled for a technical foul.
Shooting a scorching 55.6% within the first half and 8-of-16 from outdoors the arc, the Bears took their first double-digit lead, 32-20, on a 3-pointer by Adam Flagler and went into halftime up 41-30.
And whereas the taking pictures cooled off significantly within the second half – 28.6% total and 3-of-15 from distance – Baylor was nonetheless in a position to stretch the lead out to 65-46 with a run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Bridges and a pair of free throws by Flo Thamba.
Still trailing by 17 with below three minutes to go, OSU scored 9 unanswered factors and whittled the deficit to single digits, 67-59, on a 3-pointer by John-Michael Wright. With back-to-back treys by Bryce Thompson and Wright, the Cowboys pulled again inside 69-65, with 35 seconds left.
“I think the gas was completely out,” Drew stated. “We were cruising to the finish line. Take away the last four minutes, and we really had a great second half. They trapped, and we had some wide-open 3’s and probably should have gotten to the paint.”
But with the sport on the road, Bonner and Flagler made 5-of-6 free throws within the final 25 seconds to seal the win.
The Cowboys, who got here into the night time because the “last team in” for ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s newest bracketology, dropped their fifth-straight and have misplaced the final eight to the Bears in Stillwater.
Baylor completed off the season collection sweep of OSU, which obtained 12 factors apiece from Caleb Asberry and Quion Williams, and picked up its fifth convention highway win.
The Bears will shut out the common season with a Senior Day matchup in opposition to Iowa State (17-12, 8-9) at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Cyclones misplaced their second-straight at house and fourth total, falling to West Virginia, 72-69, Monday night time in Ames.
Baylor Bear Insider
STILLWATER, Okla. – Nothing ever appears to return straightforward in a Big 12 Conference that at one level had all 10 groups projected to make the NCAA Tournament discipline. Not even a 17-point lead with lower than three minutes remaining.
That was the place seventh-ranked Baylor discovered itself in Monday night time at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Surviving a late 15-2 run by the Oklahoma State Cowboys that included three-straight 3-pointers, the shorthanded Bears held on for a 74-68 win to nail down a top-4 seed for subsequent week’s Big 12 Tournament and preserve alive their faint hopes of a third-consecutive convention title.
“Well, that’s the Big 12, a game can’t be decided until it gets down to five points with under a minute to go,” stated Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose workforce improved to 22-8 total and on their lonesome in third place at 11-6. “Credit Oklahoma State for tremendous fight down the stretch. Credit them with 22 offensive rebounds. They competed, they played hard.”
Already lacking freshman guard Keyonte George with a sprained ankle, the Bears misplaced redshirt freshman Langston Love early within the first half with a scratched cornea on his left eye.
For the second recreation in a row, senior guard Dale Bonner got here to the rescue. After coming off the bench to attain 13 factors in Saturday’s win over Texas, Bonner topped that with a Baylor career-high 15 factors to go along with 4 assists and two steals in 33 minutes.
“Dale, another tremendous game,” Drew stated of Bonner, who scored in double-digit figures in back-to-back video games for the primary time in his two seasons at Baylor. “Gave us a huge lift. Hopefully, we can get Langston’s eye right. He could only see with one eye.”
LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler each hit three 3-pointers and scored 15 and 13 factors, respectively, whereas Jalen Bridges had back-to-back 3-pointers in a second half run and scored 14 earlier than fouling out late.
“Credit our guys for a lot of fight,” Drew stated. “We didn’t have Keyonte, Langston went out with an eye injury, and then we had several guys foul out. Next man up really helped us.”
After Baylor jumped out to a 14-4 lead within the first six minutes, Oklahoma State (16-14, 7-10) obtained again inside three, 19-16, when Caleb Asberry knocked down a pair of free throws after Drew was whistled for a technical foul.
Shooting a scorching 55.6% within the first half and 8-of-16 from outdoors the arc, the Bears took their first double-digit lead, 32-20, on a 3-pointer by Adam Flagler and went into halftime up 41-30.
And whereas the taking pictures cooled off significantly within the second half – 28.6% total and 3-of-15 from distance – Baylor was nonetheless in a position to stretch the lead out to 65-46 with a run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Bridges and a pair of free throws by Flo Thamba.
Still trailing by 17 with below three minutes to go, OSU scored 9 unanswered factors and whittled the deficit to single digits, 67-59, on a 3-pointer by John-Michael Wright. With back-to-back treys by Bryce Thompson and Wright, the Cowboys pulled again inside 69-65, with 35 seconds left.
“I think the gas was completely out,” Drew stated. “We were cruising to the finish line. Take away the last four minutes, and we really had a great second half. They trapped, and we had some wide-open 3’s and probably should have gotten to the paint.”
But with the sport on the road, Bonner and Flagler made 5-of-6 free throws within the final 25 seconds to seal the win.
The Cowboys, who got here into the night time because the “last team in” for ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s newest bracketology, dropped their fifth-straight and have misplaced the final eight to the Bears in Stillwater.
Baylor completed off the season collection sweep of OSU, which obtained 12 factors apiece from Caleb Asberry and Quion Williams, and picked up its fifth convention highway win.
The Bears will shut out the common season with a Senior Day matchup in opposition to Iowa State (17-12, 8-9) at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Cyclones misplaced their second-straight at house and fourth total, falling to West Virginia, 72-69, Monday night time in Ames.
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