No. 14 Baylor rallies in 2nd half for an 81-72 win over Big 12 newcomers No. 18 BYU
WACO, Texas (AP) — Jalen Bridges scored 17 of his 25 points after halftime as 14th-ranked Baylor rallied from a nine-point deficit to beat No. 18 BYU 81-72 on Tuesday night.
Ja’Kobe Walter added 16 points for the Bears and Langston Love had 15, including a couple of second-half 3-pointers and two free throws with 54 seconds left after BYU coach Mark Pope was called for a technical foul.
Baylor (13-2, 2-0 Big 12) won its first conference game in the new Foster Pavilion, a week after christening the building with a 98-79 victory over Cornell.
Spencer Johnson and Trevin Knell each had 15 points for BYU (12-3, 0-2), a Big 12 newcomer this season. Dallin Hall scored 13.
BYU had its largest lead after consecutive 3s by Knell made it 45-36 just over two minutes into the second half. Baylor responded with a 10-0 run, going ahead on Love’s 3-pointer with 14:12 left that began a string of seven lead changes in a span of only two minutes.
The Cougars had their last lead after Johnson hit 3s a minute apart. Baylor then scored seven points in just more than a minute, including Bridges’ layup to extend his streak of eight consecutive points before Jayden Nunn had a layup to put the Bears ahead to stay at 58-57.
Walter had 12 points at halftime, including a nice basket with 1:01 left for a 32-31 lead. But the standout freshman was quickly whistled for a technical after saying something to the BYU bench.
The Cougars finished the half with an 8-1 run, with Jaxon Robinson making both technical free throws and 6-foot-11 center Aly Khalifa hitting a 3 when they kept possession. BYU wrapped it up with Robinson driving for a layup while being fouled with 1.1 seconds left and adding the free throw for a 39-33 halftime lead.
BIG PICTURE
BYU: The Cougars had won their last four games between Top 25 opponenets. They were coming off a loss to Cincinnati in their first Big 12 game, when they attempted 46 3-pointers. BYU was 9 of 24 from long range against Baylor.
Baylor: After shooting a season-worst 42.5% from the field in an overtime win at Oklahoma State, the Bears were off target again. They missed six of their first seven shots. That included two inside misses by Yves Missi, the 7-foot freshman from Cameroon who was 8-for-8 shooting in the first game at Foster Pavilion last week. Baylor finished at 43.1% (25 of 58) only after making more than half its shots after halftime.
UP NEXT
BYU heads further east to take on fellow Big 12 newcomer UCF on Saturday.
Baylor is home again Saturday night to play Cincinnati, another of the four Big 12 newcomers.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball