Cryer, Flagler Lead No. 5 Bears Past No. 8 UCLA Bruins, 80-75

LAS VEGAS — The No. 5 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (4-1) will leave Vegas with one very good win for their resumé after topping No. 8 UCLA 80-75.

LJ Cryer stuffed the stat sheet with 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting with just three turnovers to lead all scorers.

Adam Flagler stepped up in the final minutes to put the game away for the Bears, scoring six of his 22 points in the final minute of the game. Flagler also grabbed six rebounds, dished four assists and turned the ball over just once.

The major problem-causers for the Bears were Jaylen Clark and Jaime Jaquez Jr. from UCLA. Clark registered a double-double with 23 points and 10 boards. Meanwhile, Jaquez netted 15 points and led the late charge by the Bruins that would eventually fall short.

The green and gold utilized an early 6-0 run in the first half to build an 18-9 lead, but the Bruins soon responded with a 10-0 run of their own to keep things intriguing at 21-19.

Caleb Lohner had a nice first half off the bench for Baylor, scoring all nine of his points and grabbing four of his five rebounds in the first frame.

At halftime, BU held on to a slim 37-35 lead, and everything was still in play.

It took till about halfway through the second half before either team was able to create some real separation. Luckily for the traveling fans in green and gold, the Bears grabbed an 8-point lead thanks to an 11-0 run.

That run was driven by the Baylor bench in the form of Dale Bonner and Joshua Ojianwuna.

Bonner nailed a three, Ojianwuna hit a pair of free throws and then Bonner knocked down three from the charity stripe before Flagler finished the run with a three.

However, the Bruins were not going to go away quietly. They clawed back into the game from down eight to just a point behind at 68-67 with 3:40 to go.

Then, Cryer stepped up and hit a huge three in transition off a Lohner pass, all after a Flo Thumb block at the other end. An absolutely winning sequence to put the Bears up four with just under three minutes remaining.

Flagler then went to work icing the game away with a couple of big buckets.

The Bruins fought hard, but could not force enough errors late to down the green and gold.

Baylor can now look forward to one last game before Thanksgiving, with McNeese State visiting Waco on Wednesday for a 3 PM game.