Bears Earn Big 12 Breakthough against Mountaineers, 83-78

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (11-5, 1-3) earned their first conference win of the season with a gritty 83-78 showing against the West Virginia Mountaineers (10-6, 0-4).

Keyonte George went for a career-high 32 points along with seven board as he made winning play after winning play through the game to lead the Bears.

The other starting guards, Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer went for 19 and 13 points respectively, while transfer forward Jalen Bridges had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double in his return to WVU.

The Bears battled through foul trouble all night, especially in the case of Flo Thamba, but they would not be denied their first Big 12 win of the season.

After a scoreless first two minutes, the Bears used and  8-0 run to jump out to a 10-2 lead, but — like the story has gone in conference play this year — they let that lead slip away. 

The Mountaineers made a 10-3 response run immediately to make it a closely contested 13-12 game.

From there, the Bears ground out another seven-point lead thanks to an Adam Flagler three to make it 25-18.

But the hosts would fight back yet again and threatened to tie the game near halftime before Flagler and Keyonte George hit back-to-back three heading into halftime. 

George’s three was a magic trick of a shot. With the clock running down toward zeroes, he found room to go between a WVU defender and the sideline where none existed before fading into the corner, rising and firing. The ball sailed through the rim and ripped the netting. 33-27 at the half in favor of the Bears. 

The green and gold shot 44% from the field in the first half but they did lose the points in the paint battle 18-8. 

In the second half, WVU tied things at 48 and started a little back and forth. After that, the Mountaineers made a 6-0 run to take a 57-53 lead, which would get no bigger than five. 

LJ Cryer went on a small 4-0 spurt to narrow things back up. Then Keyonte George stepped up and hit a couple of clutch shots, including a three to make it 70-66 Bears.

The freshman kept making winning plays including saving an Adam Flagler miss by finding Jalen Bridges who drew a goaltending call.

George, as well as Flagler and Thamba stepped to the free throw line and hit just enough free throws to seal the deal on Baylor’s first conference win of the season despite an incredible effort from the Mountaineers down the stretch.

It was a hard-fought battle, and there will be no respite from the schedule with a gritty Oklahoma State team coming to Waco on Saturday. That game will tip off at 5 PM CST in the Ferrell Center and can be watched on ESPN 2.