ORLANDO, Fla. — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (15-14, 5-11 Big 12) used an outstanding offensive first half to jump out to a decent lead against the UCF Knights (20-8, 9-7 Big 12) before hanging on for dear life and an 87-86 win.
Bears’ starting guard Obi Agbim scored 12 points and dished out seven assists on top of hitting the game-clinching free throw with 1.3 seconds left on the clock.
Agbim drew the foul on a three-pointer on the Bears’ last possession, as well as hitting a difficult and clutch jumper the possession before.
Elsewhere, Cameron Carr was the joint leading scorer on the night along with UCF’s Riley Kugel. Both scored 26 points.
Dan Skillings had his highest scoring Big 12 game in a Baylor uniform with 15 points.
Isaac Williams had his sixth straight game with 12 or more points, scoring 14 and racking up five assists.
After a disjointed start to the game that included a baffling review of Williams getting elbowed in the jaw that did not result in a flagrant on the offending Knight, the Bears made a trio of small runs to open up a lead.
The first spurt was a 10-2 run headlined by seven points from Williams and a three from Tounde Yessoufou.
The second was a team effort of a. 10-3 run and made it 32-26.
The third was almost entirely Cameron Carr, punctuated by a Caden Powell dunk to make it a 12-3 spurt and 44-33.
Baylor took a 56 to 42 lead into the locker room and was shooting 54% from the field, 53% from downtown and 83% from the free throw line. The Bears also had just three turnovers, 12 assists on 19 buckets and were up eight in the rebounding battle.
Then UCF started the second half on a 16-4 run to erase the Baylor lead.
A 9-3 response from the Green and Gold settled the Bears down, but the hosts were not done.
UCF made a late push with a 15-4 run to draw even at 84-84.
That is when Agbim stepped up with his tough long two, and then drew the fouls on the final possession three to get to the charity stripe and seal the win.
Baylor once again sits a game above .500 for the year and is in 13th in the Big 12. Above Oklahoma State on a head-to-head tiebreaker and a game behind Arizona State and Colorado.
Baylor now returns to Texas for a Wednesday tilt at No. 5 Houston. That game is set to tip off at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN 2.
