Bears Scrape Past Pokes 74-68 after Late Lead Vanishes

STILLWATER, Oklahoma — The No. 7 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (21-8, 10-6) ground its way past the Oklahoma State Cowboys (16-13, 7-9) by a score of 74-68.

LJ Cryer and Dale Bonner both led the Bears in scoring with 15 points each while Adam Flagler had a solid all-around night with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. 

There were late-game woes again for the green and gold, especially struggles against a full-court press, but they did just enough to leave Stillwater with a win.

The first half saw the Bears in relative control for the majority of the period.

After jumping out to a 14-4 start and weathering a few early threes from the Pokes, LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler settled in. 

Each hit a trio of triples before the break with the Bears shooting 8-for-16 as a team.

A lot of the difference in the half could be chalked up to how the green and gold converted Oklahoma State turnovers into points. The Bears forced five turnovers and netted 11 points off of them, while giving up just four points off of four turnovers.

The boards were an area of struggle in the first 20 minutes, with the Cowboys earning a five-rebound advantage thanks to 13 offensive rebounds.

However, when you shoot just 35% from the field, those rebounds don’t hurt your opponent as much.

The Pokes continued to rack up offensive boards in the second half, but the story stayed mostly the same. Baylor shot the ball more efficiently and it earned the Bears the win in the end.

The only real push that the hosts made before the last three minutes of the game was a quick 5-0 spurt that Dale Bonner rapidly answered with five points of his own.

The reserve guard had a second straight outing with double-digit points, scoring 15.

Similar to the Texas game, four Bears were in double figures, with Jalen Bridges racking up 14 points of his own on the night.

In the last three minutes of the game though, Baylor almost fell completely apart.

Oklahoma State turned up the full-court pressure, the Baylor guards struggled mightly to break through yet again, and the Pokes earned themselves a 15-2 run.

That run cut what was once a 19-point lead down to just four with 35 seconds left.

After some trouble, the Bears got the ball inbounds and Bonner knocked down three clutch free throws.

Flagler hit the last pair and gave us the final score: 74-68.

It got ugly at the end, but Baylor did just enough to keep their small chance at a Big 12 title alive for one more day.

Tuesday night Scott Drew and company need Texas Tech to beat Kansas in Lawrence, then Wednesday they need TCU to top Texas in Fort Worth. 

Beyond that, Texas would have to beat Kansas in Austin while the Bears face Iowa State in Waco.

For the next 22 hours though, Baylor still has a chance. 

And whether or not things fall the Bears’ way, the home finale will be an 11 AM tip on ESPN2 on Saturday.