Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
Taurean Prince definitely has a shooter's mentality. "I could miss five, and I'd feel like I made five."
Those 25 shots he missed in the first three games were a distant memory Monday night when the senior forward drained 5-of-7 from 3-point range and finished with 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to lift No. 25 Baylor to a 100-61 win over the Savannah State Tigers.
"You've got to stick with what you know and don't change up anything. Just continue to believe in yourself," he said. "I was over-thinking, just expecting too much of myself, instead of just playing my game and letting it come to me."
Playing their most efficient game of the season, the Bears (3-1) shot 50.7 percent from the field, knocked down 45 percent of their 3-point attempts and had a phenomenal assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 3-to-1 with 28 assists and only 10 turnovers.
"I thought offensively, we were a lot more efficient than we've been the last two games," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Ten turnovers, 28 assists, a lot of positive things there."
Facing a Savannah State team (3-2) that only lost to Oregon by 18, Baylor led by that much at the half. The Tigers buried five treys and shot 52 percent from the field (12-of-23) in the first half, but sophomore Johnathan Motley came off the bench to score 11 of his game-high 21 points in the last 10 ½ minutes as the Bears turned a two-point lead into a 51-33 cushion at the break.
Motley, a reserve this season after starting every game last year, added 10 rebounds for his second career double-double and was 9-of-12 from the floor.
"I'm trying to mentally lock-in about dunking everything," Motley said. "Last year, I made a lot of easy moves for layups. But this year, I'm focusing on making sure I finish those with dunks."
Lester Medford had a steal and breakaway layup to give the Bears the 18-point lead at the break.
With a nice inside-out balance, Baylor had five players in double figures. Rico Gathers was 7-of-9 from the field and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Al Freeman pumped in 14 points and Ishmail Wainright had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Drew said he had a "good talk" with Prince the day before the game.
"Your senior year, you've got a lot on your plate, a lot on your mind, a lot of pressure," Drew said. "I think he enjoyed himself tonight, and that was good to see."
Prince might have been even happier about his game- and career-high nine assists. His previous high was seven in the season opener against SFA. He now ranks second on the team with 19 assists, two less than Medford and three more than Wainright.
"I don't even think he knows it yet," Prince said of him having more assists than Wainright, "but I'm going to get on to him about it. This summer, every open gym, we'd tell each other that I'm going to have more assists than you. When you've got guys that compete in other categories besides scoring, that's when you know we're a good team."
Baylor's defense clamped down in the second half, holding the visiting Tigers to just 32 percent shooting from the field (8-of-25) and 28 points. Lenjo Kilo and Christopher Martin led Savannah State with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
"I think we did a much better job contesting shots in the second half," Drew said.
The Bears also dominated the boards, 44-25, outscoring the Tigers in second-chance points, 21-2, and shot 87.5 percent from the line (21-of-24).
"Some of the guys are starting to relax at the free throw line," Drew said. "I don't know if that means we'll always shoot 88 percent, but you're going to win a lot of games when you're 21-of-24 at the free throw line."
Continuing a six-game home stand that started with Friday's 78-60 win over Jackson State, the Bears will host Arkansas State (2-2) at noon Saturday. The Red Wolves bounced back from a 76-75 loss on the road at Savannah State to beat Jackson State, 78-69, Sunday, as part of the Global Sports Shootout.
