Box Score THE RUNDOWN
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Taurean Prince scored 20 with five rebounds and Royce O'Neale added 16 to lead Baylor past Memphis 71-47 in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational Thursday night.
Baylor (5-0) held Memphis to 19 percent (4 of 21) from the field in the second half to advance to the championship game against Illinois (5-0) Friday night.
In the second half, the Bears outscored the Tigers 42-15.
After the Bears trailed 35-29 with 19:44 left in the game, they outscored Memphis 33-7 in the next 12-plus minutes. Baylor's lead never got below 19 in the final 5 minutes and grew to as many as 24.
Pookie Powell led the Tigers (1-2) with 13 points. In the second half, Memphis also was outrebounded 29-12. The Tigers shot 12 of 16 in the first half, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor out-scored Memphis 42-15 in the 2nd half after trailing 32-29 at the break.
• Baylor's 15 points allowed in the 2nd half against Memphis tied the fewest in any half of the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor held an opponent under 50 points in an away game for the first time in its last 48 away games.
• The Bears held Memphis to 19% shooting in the 2nd half (4-of-21).
• Royce O'Neale (16 points) scored in double figures for the 2nd straight game and the 12th time in his BU career. The Bears are 10-2 when he scores 10+ points.
• O'Neale's four 3-pointers made tied a career high (at West Virginia, 2/22/14).
• Taurean Prince (season-high 20 points) scored in double figures for the 3rd straight game and 15th time in his career - BU is 12-3 in those games.
• Prince had his 3rd career 20-point game and has scored 15+ points in each of the last 3 games.
• Rico Gathers (11 rebounds) had his 4th double-digit rebounding game of the season and the 18th of his career. He also reached the 500 career rebounding milestone and has 501 in 80 career games played.
• Lester Medford had a career-high 6 assists and only committed 1 turnover.
• Al Freeman tied his season high with 8 points, scoring that total for the 3rd time in 5 games played.
STAT OF THE GAME
15: Points for Memphis in the second half as Baylor pulled away to win by 24.
TWEET OF THE GAME
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor plays against Illinois at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Friday (Nov. 28) at 9:30 p.m. CT.
