No. 11 Bears Return to Action, Top Washington State 65-59 in Dallas
DALLAS — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team ground out a solid 65-59 win over the Washington State Cougars in the PAC 12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge thanks in large part to Keyonte George.
The star freshman scored 19 points to lead all scorers and possibly give NBA fans a glimpse at what he can do in an NBA arena in the near future.
The American Airlines Center also looked good on Adam Flagler, as the redshirt senior dropped 12 points of his own including some clutch shot-making down the stretch.
The Bears had a fight on their hand throughout, with their PAC 12 opponents doing particularly well at the start of each half.
After falling down six early, Baylor earned its first lead of the game nine minutes in at 15-14.
George, LJ Cryer and Langston Love pushed the green and gold out in front of WSU by halftime with the score at the break being 31-25.
The Cougars’ biggest run of the game came early in the second half. They scored 10 to Baylor’s two and held a 41-37 lead when Josh Ojianwuna and Keyonte George went to work. The two freshmen helped Baylor respond with its own 10-2 run.
Ojianwuna’s performance, promising in its own right, was particularly necessary with starter Flo Thamba in foul trouble most of the night.
With the Bears up just three points very late in the game, George hit a dagger three-pointer from the left wing then played it up for the crowd a bit.
However, the Cougars answered with a bucket, forcing Flagler to nail a pull-up jumper and finish a tough drive to the paint just one possession later to make it a 63-55 lead.
WSU made one final push, but the Baylor defense was stout and forced far too much time off the clock.
Looking back at the game as a whole, Baylor did a good job getting to the paint and the free throw line, finishing with a 26-18 advantage in paint points and shooting 13-for-16 from the charity stripe.
Of course, there is still plenty to improve on as Big 12 play closes in, but a solid performance against the No. 60 team according to KenPom is not something to scoff at.
Up next: Northwestern State visits Waco on Tuesday for a 7 PM tip. That game will be available on ESPN+.