Flagler Leads Baylor Comeback, Bears Escape Fort Worth with 72-68 Win

FORT WORTH, Texas — The No. 14 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (19-6, 8-4) escaped the No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs (17-7, 6-6) by a score of 72-68 thanks to a masterful 20-point second half from Adam Flagler.

While Flagler carried the Bears late, LJ Cryer led the green and gold early on. He scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half and hit a big four-point play just before halftime to knot the score at 31-31.

However, JaKobe Coles nailed a three before the buzzer to give the Horned Frogs a 34-31 halftime lead.

In both halves, the Frogs pounded the paint, scoring 24 points in the paint in the first half and grabbing 17 rebounds to Baylor’s 10. The Frogs' final figures in those stats were 50 and 32 respectively. The Bears grabbed 26 total boards for reference.

With the paint dominance continuing early in the second-period things looked a bit grim for Baylor. 

Then TCU went on an 8-2 run to stretch its lead to 56-46 with 9:13 left to play.

That is when Flagler and the Bears flipped the script. 

The green and gold locked down on defense and the All-Big 12 point guard started shooting the lights out.

Over the next five minutes of game time, Baylor tuned a 10-point deficit into a three-point lead on the back of a 15-2 run. Flagler accounted for the last 11 of those points on his way to a season-high 28 points. 

Jalen Bridges and Langston Love were key contributors to the turnaround with great hustle plays grabbing rebounds and forcing turnovers.

With under three minutes left, a 7-0 Baylor run gave the Bears a six-point cushion that they would hold on to by a narrow margin down the stretch.

A Flagler turnover with eight seconds left gave TCU a shot to tie or take the lead at 70-68, but Damion Baugh missed his pull-up jumper and Flagler iced the game with FTs.

With a 72-68 win in tow back to Waco, the green and gold will look forward to a matchup with the West Virginia Mountaineers on Monday. That game tips off at 8 PM on ESPN 2 and Baylor will look to make it 10 wins in 11 games with a victory over WVU.