Bears Take Overtime to Tackle Mountaineers, 74-71

WACO, Texas — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (16-9, 8-6 Big 12) fought past the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers (15-10, 6-8 Big 12) in overtime on Saturday afternoon, winning by a score of 74-71.

Norchad Omier once again led the Bears in both points and rebounds with a double-double of 17 and 10. Langston Love matched Omer’s 17 points, making it three straight games with 15+ points for the redshirt junior. The scoring output was also a season-high for Love. 

The Bears closed out the close game by earning trips to the free throw line, shooting 27-32 from the charity stripe on the day. This was necessary to balance out the 5-for-22 shooting performance from three as well as the 39% accuracy from the field overall.

VJ Edgecombe had a quiet day, scoring less than four of his teammates but the eight rebounds and six assists he added to his seven points were huge for Baylor.

Meanwhile, Robert Wright made key late buckets and otherwise earned tough fouls on his way to 16 points.

Jalen Celestine was the final Bear in double-figure scoring with 10 points and the final, game-icing free throw. 

For all the late nerves, the game had the most energy in the middle 20 minutes. Late in the first half, the Bears looked to break away with a 9-0 run to take a 30-21 lead. 

Bad mistakes in the last minute of the half gave West Virginia four points to ease that blow.

Then at the start of the second period, the Mountaineers shot out to a 14-4 run. The Bears overturned the resulting five-point deficit with a 12-2 run to get the Foster Pavilion crowd rocking.

The crowd gave the Bears great energy late and helped the team secure their eighth Big 12 win of the season.

Now the Green and Gold get Sunday to recover before the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats come to Waco for a Monday showdown. That game is set to tip off at 9:00 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.