Jan. 18, 2000
WACO, Texas - Soooooo close.
The Baylor Bears came up just short Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center, falling 74-72 to the Missouri Tigers.
Despite trailing most of the game, the Bears roared back over the last ten minutes, but couldn't quite catch up to the Tigers. Missouri jumped out in front early, leading 7-1 and holding a five-point lead for the first ten minutes of the game.
Baylor came back and took a three point lead with eight minutes left in the first half, but a Missouri run immediately followed which put the Tigers back in front to stay. Missouri led 37-27 at the half, thanks to 13 first-half points from forward Jeff Hafer. He finished with 15 points for the night.
No Bears scored in double digits in the first half. Tevis Stukes led the team with eight points, but the Bears were weighed down by Jamie Kendrick's seven first-half turnovers.
"We need to take better care of the ball," Baylor head coach Dave Bliss said. "The seven turnovers in the first half were really critical. We got it back under that, but we were never able to get the ball with a chance to take the lead."
The Tigers continued building their lead to start the second half, going ahead by as much as 15 points around the 13-minute mark. Baylor wouldn't go away, however, cutting the lead to four at 63-59 with 2:40 left. The Bears got as close as three with 1:28 remaining on a three-pointer by Demarcus Minor, putting the score at 67-64, but could not cut the lead any further as the two teams traded free throws the rest of the way.
"That's what good teams do," Minor said. "They don't fold down the stretch. We made a big step forward, but I'd like to see that come out in a win."
"I thought we did some very good things down the stretch," Bliss said, "but they played how an NCAA team should play."
Baylor trailed 73-68 with ten seconds left when Minor missed a three-pointer. John Flippen tipped it in, cutting the lead back to three. Missouri's Brian Grawer made one of two free throws with 7.6 seconds left. Baylor rebounded the miss, but Stukes missed a three-pointer with two seconds left, and Terry Black's ten-foot jumper wasn't enough.
The Bears' 45-point total in the second half was higher than the team's last three game totals.
"We played real well in the second half," Stukes said. "Coach changed our offense, spread things out, to make everybody more competitive in the offense."
Baylor's next action comes at Nebraska on Saturday, Jan. 22, at 1 p.m.
