Baylor
7-1
Vanderbilt
5-2
MBB Tops Vanderbilt, 66-63
12/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
 66BAYLOR (7-1) |
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | USATSI Gallery Nashville, Tenn. ? Attendance: 7,740 |  63VANDERBILT (5-2) |
THE RUNDOWN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Royce O'Neale scored 22 points and Taurean Prince added 19, leading Baylor to a 66-63 win over Vanderbilt in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at Memorial Gym on Thursday night.
O'Neale made four 3-pointers and Prince added three.
Baylor (7-1) made 10 of 18 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
It was Baylor's first win over Vanderbilt (5-2) since 1949, but the first meeting between the schools since 1985.
Baylor has the Big 12's best record in conference challenge games at 5-1.
Vanderbilt's Damian Jones made two free throws to narrow the deficit to 65-63 with 15 seconds left.
Baylor's Lester Medford hit 1 of 2 free throws to increase the Bears' lead to 66-63 with 14.4 seconds left.
Vanderbilt's Riley LaChance missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1 second left as the ball bounced off the glass.
James Siakam's layup narrowed Baylor's lead to 61-59 with 1:41 left, but he couldn't convert the three-point play after missing a foul shot.
Jones, who entered the game as the Southeastern Conference's fourth-leading scorer, led Vanderbilt with 21 points. Luke Kornet added 13.
Vanderbilt made a 15-8 run in the second half to narrow Baylor's lead to 51-50.
A put-back by Siakam gave Vanderbilt its first lead, 54-53, since early in the game, prompting Baylor coach Scott Drew to call a timeout with 6:10 left.
Prince hit two free throws to put Baylor back on top, 55-54, with 5:22 left.
Vanderbilt cut the deficit to 48-46 with 9:33 left, but Al Freeman hit a 3-pointer to put Baylor up by five.
Baylor broke a 12-all tie with an 8-0 run to take control in the first half, and the Bears stretched their advantage to 34-25 by halftime.
Prince led the way in the early going with 13 points in the first half and O'Neale added 12.
Baylor hit 6 of its first 12 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
HIGHLIGHTS
? Royce O'Neale tied his career high with 22 points - he also had 22 at West Virginia on 2/22/14.
? O'Neale scored in double figures for the 3rd time this season and 13th in his BU career.
? Taurean Prince (19 points) has a career-best streak of 6-straight games scoring in double figures and is averaging 15.2 points per game during that stretch. His longest previous double-figure scoring streak was 2 games.
? Prince has scored in double figures 18 times in his career and Baylor is 14-4 in those games.
? Lester Medford had 7 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds for his first career 5-5-5 game, and he had only 1 turnover.
? Al Freeman had 7 points and has led the team in bench scoring in all 4 games Kenny Chery has missed.
STAT OF THE GAME
22: Points for Royce O'Neale, tying a career high.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Baylor gets a combined 41 points from Royce O'Neale and Taurean Prince in 66-63 win at Vanderbilt. Bears are quietly 7-1. NCAA caliber team.
-- Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) December 5, 2014
TOP QUOTE
"I really liked the composure of our upperclassmen Royce [O'Neale], [Taurean Prince], and Rico [Gathers]. I thought Lester [Medford] did a good job filling in without Kenny Chery tonight. When you don't have a senior point guard on the road, first time you're playing in a hostile environment without him, your closer, it's always interesting to see what occurs and you're just hoping it's more positive than bad. We knew Vanderbilt wouldn't go away but we were really pleased that, when we lost the lead, we were able to have a maturity to come back and finish it." - Baylor head coach Scott Drew
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor returns home to take on Texas A&M in the Battle of the Brazos Tuesday (Dec. 9) at 8 p.m. CT.
