Cryer Drops 26, Bears Out-Shoot and Out-Hustle Mountaineers 79-67

WACO, Texas — The No. 9 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (20-6, 9-4) hustled past a scrappy West Virginia Mountaineers squad (15-11, 4-9) by a score of 79-67, thanks to a spectacular shooting from LJ Cryer and company.

Cryer went 8-11 from deep and finished with 26 points. As a team, the Bears shot 14-27 from beyond the arch and 51% overall from the floor.

Adam Flagler, Jalen Bridges and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua joined Cryer in double figures with 13, 12 and 11 points respectively.

Aside from Cryer, it took the Bears a minute to get things going tonight. West Virginia jumped out to an early 9-3 lead and led by as much as seven in the half.

However, Jalen Bridges and Flo Thamba put in enough work in the paint during an 8-0 Baylor run to open up that extra space for the perimeter shooters.

With the game tied at 20 apiece, the green and gold decided to put some distance between themselves and the visitors. Everyday Jon would get a pair of buckets including his first dunk since returning to action, and LJ Cryer would knock down his second and third triples of the half to give Baylor a 36-29 advantage heading into the locker room.

Cryer would only heat up during the break, returning to the floor and hitting four triples before the second half was six minutes deep. 

The Mountaineers hung a tough, picking at the zone defense Baylor played for large portions of the game.

But the damage had been done. The seven-point halftime lead grew to 15 and there was no looking back.

The Bears eased their way to the finish from there, clearing the bench and letting their 19-point lead draw down to the final scoreline of 79-67.

Baylor will now embark on perhaps its toughest stretch of the year, with a road trip to No. 5 Kansas slated for Saturday before games at No. 12 Kansas State and home against No. 6 Texas. 

That Kansas game will tip off at 3 PM on ESPN and a chance to knock the Jayhawks down a peg in the Big 12 race, with the Bears being tied for first with Texas’ loss to Texas Tech tonight.