Baylor blows past SFA in midweek battle at the Ferrell Center, 83-52

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WACO, Texas — The No. 2 Baylor men’s basketball team improved to 4-0 with a 83-52 win in their home opener, dropping a strong Stephen F. Austin team to 3-1 Wednesday night. 

After posting a 28-3 record last season and coming into Wednesday evening undefeated on the season, the Lumberjacks were no cakewalk for a Bear program that had what seemed like just a handful of hours to prepare for this game. Despite the tight preparation window, Baylor rode 35 forced turnovers and a 43-13 bench points advantage to yet another double-digit victory.

It was an even night offensively for the Bears with five players in double figures as Adam Flagler led the way again with 14. Davion Mitchell glued the squad as a whole with a complete stat line of 11 points, three boards and seven assists.

Baylor dominated all but one stat in the first half, only lacking in the category that’s been their forte all season: rebounding. Stephen F. Austin boasted a 19-14 rebounding margin in the first half, and that helped the Lumberjacks hang around, for the first 18 minutes that is. 

Shooting 46% from the field, 11-13 from the line and forcing a wild 17 first-period turnovers, Baylor led 38-22 at the break — a surprising margin when you factor the Green and Gold only led by seven with 1:48 to play in the half. It was the bench of the Bears, too, who put up 25 early points compared to the starters’ 13 that helped Baylor pull away. 

The Bears fired out in the second half much more aggressively than they did to start the ballgame, riding a couple of quick runs to a 23 point lead at 52-29 six minutes in. The Lumberjacks would not pull within 20 again as Baylor outscored their opponent 45-30 in the final 20 minutes while forcing 18 turnovers and a hitting 13-14 from the charity stripe in the stretch.

A win against a mid-major is typically taken with a grain of salt, but this is a strong Stephen F. Austin team that could no doubt make a run in March. Baylor simply showed that they will not overlook any opponent this season. 

Also, congratulations to Scott Drew for finally matching Associate Head Coach Jerome Tang’s win total for the year. Coach Drew, you’ve earned this. Celebrate big tonight.