MBB Moves to 2-1 with Win over Prairie View A&M

Monday, November 12

Waco, Texas

7 p.m.

Baylor

2-1

Prairie View A&M

1-1

Prairie View A&M

Baylor

MBB Moves to 2-1 with Win over Prairie View A&M

11/12/2018 9:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes HIghlights Postgame Press Conference

Freshman Jared Butler led all scorers with 22 points.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

At this rate, Jared Butler might have a 50-point night before the end of November.

After scoring 11 points combined in his first two games, the Baylor freshman doubled that in one night with 22 points and knocked down three 3-pointers to help the Bears (2-1) finally shake loose from Prairie View A&M and beat the visiting Panthers, 91-80, Monday night at the Ferrell Center.

"In the first game, I had a lot of jitters and was wondering what it was going to be like," Butler said. "Once I feel comfortable and I feel the environment, I play better and I play more comfortable, and that's what you saw tonight a little bit."

Butler sparked a 13-0 second-half run with a pair of free throws and back-to-back buckets after Prairie View (1-1) got within two points after trailing by 11 at the break, 47-36.

"If I see a lane or an opening, I let my instincts take over and I try to knock the shot down," he said. "I wasn't trying to take over. I wasn't trying to do it all by myself, I was just trying to win.":

King McClure, who chipped in with 21 points and eight rebounds, continued the Baylor run by burying a 3-pointer, then made a layup off a steal and long outlet from Tristan Clark and returned the favor by feeding the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward for a slam dunk to make it 78-61 with 4:37 left to give the Bears the cushion they needed.

"If we could bottle up the way Tristan played in that five, six-minute stretch in the second half, I told him, I would buy a ticket to watch you play as well as he played in that stretch," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of Clark, who finished with 17 points, seven boards, five blocks and four assists. "We want that every day, because we see flashes of that. The big thing is keeping him out of foul trouble and then being aggressive like that."

Clark said the "crowd goes wild" when he blocks a shot, and "it ignites the team."

"When I get going on defense and block shots, it creates easy buckets in transition."

Prairie View never led, but the Panthers never went away, either. They went on a 9-2 run in the second half and pulled back within two, 59-57, on a 3-pointer by Taishun Johnson with 9:26 to go.

"We didn't quit," Prairie View coach Byron Smith said. "We could have easily laid down, but I thought we hung in there and tried to make a basketball game out of it. I think we expended so much energy trying to get back in that we ran out of gas late."

Five players scored in double figures for the Panthers, led by Gary Blackston with 18. The senior guard pumped in 30 points in an 81-64 road win at Santa Clara last Friday.

Junior guard Devonte Bandoo hit two 3-pointers and scored in double figures for the third straight game with 16 points. As a team, the Bears shot a sizzling 68 percent from the field in the second half (17-of-25) and 61 percent for the game (31-of-51) and dominated points in the paint, 38-20.

"With us, I think we play in spurts," Drew said. "We can be really, really good, and we can be really, really bad. That's what you get with inexperience. The good thing is you guys get to go home and sleep. I've got to watch the film again. We're going to get better each and every day. We just want to get better with wins."

The Bears finish off the season-opening four-game home stand with a mid-day matchup against Nicholls State (1-2) at 11 a.m. Friday before going on the road over the Thanksgiving break to play in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla. Nicholls has dropped back-to-back road games at Louisville and Washington State after opening with an 86-58 win at home over Mississippi College.