Box Score THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas (AP) - Kenny Chery had 13 points, starting the game with a 3-pointer and a three-point play to put No. 19 Baylor ahead to stay in a 77-57 victory over TCU on Wednesday night.
The Bears (17-5, 5-4 Big 12), who had five players scoring in double figures, led throughout after scoring the game's first eight points.
TCU (14-8, 1-8) was within 45-39 with just over 15 minutes left before Royce O'Neale converted a three-point play and hit a 3-pointer from the left wing after a pass from Chery. The Bears pushed in front 58-39 when Rico Gathers made a layup with 12:45 left.
Gathers finished with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Chery also had six assists and five rebounds.
O'Neale scored 12 points, Taurean Prince 11 and Lester Medford 10.
Amric Fields had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting to lead TCU. Trey Zeigler and Kenrich Williams had 11 points each.
After the pass to O'Neale for the 3 in Baylor's big second-half run, Chery had another assist when he crossed midcourt and passed ahead to Al Freeman. The freshman point guard took a stutter-step without traveling or putting the ball on the floor to get around defender Kyan Anderson for a layup. Freeman had a 3-pointer for the next Baylor points.
The Bears have won 17 of their last 18 home games, the lone loss in that span by one point to No. 12 Kansas a month ago.
HIGHLIGHTS
? Baylor opened the game's first 2:23 on an 8-0 run.
? From the 15:19 mark to the 12:45 mark of the second half Baylor used a 13-0 run to build an insurmountable 19-point lead.
? Baylor tied a season-high with 5 players in double figures - also did so against Texas A&M on Dec. 9th.
? Rico Gathers moved into sole possession of 9th on Baylor's all-time Big 12 wins list (23).
? Gathers (14 points) scored in double figures for the 11th time this season, 25th in his career.
? Gathers (17 rebounds) reached double-figure rebounds for a Big-12 best 18th time in 22 games this season - it was the 32nd time he's posted 10+ boards in his career - and he's the Big 12's active leader in career double figure rebounding games.
? Gathers (723 career rebounds) passed Cory Jefferson (2009-14, 722 rebounds) for 9th on the Baylor all-time rebounds list.
? Gathers' 6th career 15+ rebound game tied him with Lawrence Roberts (2001-03) for 2nd all-time at Baylor in 15+ rebound games.
? Gathers notched his Big 12-best 11th double-double of the season, and 18th of his career - he's the Big 12's active leader in career double-doubles.
? Gathers (3 blocks) had 2 or more blocks for the 5th time this season, 11th in his career.
? Kenny Chery (13 points) scored in double figures for the 9th time this season, 31st time in his career and 7th time in last 8 games - he made 11 straight shots, including 7 straight threes, dating back to the second half of Baylor's win over Texas before finally missing on his last attempt of the first half vs. TCU.
? Chery (6 assists) had 5 or more assists for the 8th time this season, 27th in his career and 2nd straight game.
? Taurean Prince (11 points) had his team-high 16th double-figure scoring game of the season - he had only 12 double-figure games in his previous two seasons combined.
? Lester Medford (5 assists) had 5 or more assists for the 10th time this season - Baylor is 10-0 in those games - and he has 30 assists in his last 7 games (4.3 per game).
? Medford (10 points) scored in double figures for the 9th time this season and 3rd time in last 4 games.
? Royce O'Neale (12 points) scored in double figures for the 8th time this season, 18th time in his career.
STAT OF THE GAME
17: Rebounds for Rico Gathers, the 18th time in 22 games this season he's reached double-digit boards.
TWEET OF THE GAME
TOP QUOTE
"What you love about Rico and a lot of the guys on this team is that they're always going to play hard, and when you do that each and every night you give yourself a chance, and it's fun to go play no matter where it's at knowing you have guys that aren't going to be intimidated. They're not going to back down and they're going to give you everything they've got." - Baylor head coach Scott Drew
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor hits the road to take on West Virginia in Morgantown Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPNU.
