Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
Life on the road in the Big 12 is about as tough as it gets.
But in a weird twist, the No. 19/21 Baylor Bears are winning on the road and struggling at home. Go figure.
Shooting a sizzling 67 percent in the second half, Texas Tech used a 16-3 second-half run to hand the Bears their third straight conference loss at home, 84-66, Saturday night before a crowd of 7,540 at the Ferrell Center. The Bears, who are 4-2 in Big 12 road games, fall to 18-7 overall and tied for fourth in the league at 7-5.
"It's just guys not having the same intensity they should," said Baylor senior Taurean Prince, who hit three 3-pointers and scored a team-high 17 points. "That goes on your seniors not being able to get guys' minds right before the game. I'll take the blame for that. I've got to do a better job of making sure the team is ready to play - not just the starters, but the bench as well."
Sophomores Keenan Evans, Justin Gray and Zach Smith combined to shoot 18-of-25 from the floor 13-of-16 from the line for 54 of the Red Raiders' 84 points. Including Wednesday's 85-82 overtime win over Iowa State, Tech won back-to-back games against Top 25 teams for the first time in over nine years.
"Whether it's Top 25 or not, we're getting better," said Tech coach Tubby Smith, whose team improved to 15-9 and 5-7. "When you get a good win like we did against Iowa State, or against Oklahoma State, any win is a good win this time of the year; any win. We understand that, and our players are maturing and starting to understand, and they're experienced enough to know what we needed to do in order to win."
After falling behind by 10 in the first 6 ½ minutes, the Bears responded with a 10-0 run and tied it up, 14-14, on a Prince layup off a steal by freshman King McClure. Prince and Lester Medford got it started with 3-pointers, followed by two straight layups off steals by McClure.
The Bears took their first lead on a pair of free throws by Rico Gathers and extended it to 20-16 on a Medford layup off another steal. Gathers, who sat out Wednesday's road win at K-State with flu-like symptoms, had seven points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.
"I thought Rico's effort was very good, considering how sick he was and not having a chance to practice," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I was disappointed our bench got outscored 23-14, and that's been a strong point. In our wins, we've always had good bench play."
Prince drained a 3-pointer that gave Baylor a 32-30 lead late in the half, but Aaron Ross banked one in to give the Red Raiders a 33-32 lead at the break.
After Al Freeman tied it up at 36-36 on a layup three minutes into the second half, Tech had a 10-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way. Gray started it with a layup, followed by a Smith jumper and a Gray dunk off a steal by Evans.
Medford ended the Bears' drought with a 3-pointer, but Evans answered with a three-point play and Smith got a dunk that put the Red Raiders up 51-39 with 11:56 to play.
Things went from bad to worse in the last four minutes when Ish Wainright was whistled for an intentional foul and Drew picked up a technical foul. Tech hit five free throws in all, going up 76-58.
"I wish we would have done some things differently," Drew said. "As far as me with my technical, I deserved it. We average getting to the free throw line 24 times a game, we got there 11 times. It is what it is, (Tech's 28 free throws) to 11, at home."
And Tech made them pay, hitting 23 of 28 from the line. Gathers was ejected with 1:46 left on a flagrant 2 foul. Johnathan Motley had two dunks and a layup in the last 1 ½ minutes to get to double figures with 10 points.
Medford had 13 points, six assists and one turnover in 33 minutes.
Baylor will try to bounce back with another home game against No. 14/15 Iowa State (18-7, 7-5) at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Cyclones lost in overtime at Tech before knocking off No. 24/25 Texas, 85-75, Saturday night in Ames.
