By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
With a paint presence like 6-9 sophomore center Tristan Clark, who was hitting better than 70 percent of his shots, it was easy for Baylor's offense to go inside out.
Re-inventing themselves after Clark's season-ending knee surgery, as Texas Tech coach Chris Beard put it, the Bears have taken more of a bombs-away approach in the last two games.
Overcoming an early 13-point deficit, Baylor used the hot hands of Jared Butler and Makai Mason to upset eighth-ranked Texas Tech, 73-62, Saturday night at the Ferrell Center before a raucous crowd of 9,018.
"I thought the crowd really helped us today," said Drew, whose team improved to 11-6 overall and a half game out of the lead in the Big 12 at 3-2 with its second win in six days. "When they made runs, the crowd really affected the game, gave us a lot of energy and allowed us to get deflections and allowed us to make winning plays."
A late enrollee who was inserted in the starting lineup after Clark's injury, Butler has scored 49 points in the last three games. Quiet for most of the first half, the freshman from Reserve, La., hit two 3-pointers and scored a game-high 19 points against the Red Raiders (15-3, 4-2).
"He's a winner," Drew said of Butler, who originally signed with Alabama before getting his release this summer. "You feel when he's got the ball that he's going to make a winning play. Sometimes, he has too much confidence in himself. He threw me the ball, and I'm not on the court. But, he comes right back and makes a great play right after that, which you love the short-term memory."
Butler hit the go-ahead bucket with 2:50 to go in the first half as the Bears came back from the early 23-10 deficit to go up 33-31 at the break. And then he scored Baylor's first eight points of the second half to push the lead to 41-33 and force Beard to call a time out.
"Being put in a role when one of the big parts of our team goes down, I felt like I needed to (step up my game)," said Butler, who came in averaging just 7.6 points per game. "Also, me being a freshman, you have to get in a groove and the game slows down for you as the season goes on. That factor, and me needing to step up, came at the right time. I'm loving playing with these guys."
Baylor had an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 55-42, on a Flo Thamba free throw with 8:01 remaining.
Tech answered with 11 straight points and pulled within 55-53 on a three-point play by Brandone Francis. That's when Butler took matters into his own hands, burying a 3-pointer on a play Drew called and then driving in for a three-point play that pushed it back to a more comfortable eight-point margin.
"We just kept our composure, honestly," said Mason, who scored 16 points and hit four free throws in a closing stretch that saw the Bears go 10-of-10 from the line. "We just had to weather the storm there. Jared made a couple big plays, and we got some rebounds and stops, and we were able to push it back to a double-digit game."
In addition to Butler and Mason, the Bears got contributions from a lot of different players. Mark Vital had six points, eight rebounds and five assists; King McClure drained two 3-pointers and had eight points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals; Devonte Bandoo buried a couple from deep and scored eight points; Mario Kegler had eight second-half points; and Division III transfer Freddie Gillespie was 4-for-4 from the line.
"He's rested," Drew said of Gillespie, who didn't play in eight of nine games before playing a bigger role since Clark's injury. "I think our staff and the team have done a great job in making sure each and every one is ready, because you never know when your time is going to be.
"Mario didn't start the second half, and in the first half he didn't really play like he's capable. The second half, he comes in and he was tremendous for you. I tell you, the best thing Freddie does is make free throws. He's been clutch at the line. That's what a team does, you have different people step up."
Ultimately, though, Butler was the difference in this one.
"I thought he was fearless, played with courage, looked like he was having a lot of fun out there," Beard said. "Basically, playing the game the way that we try to get our guards to play."
Shaking off what had been a bad game up to that point, Tech sophomore forward Jarrett Culver scored the Red Raiders' last nine points and matched Butler with a game-high 19 points to go with nine boards, but he also turned it over seven times. Francis had 14 and Davide Moretti 13, while South Dakota transfer Matt Mooney scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting after coming in averaging 11.2 points.
Tech is now tied for first place with Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State at 4-2, with the Bears just a half game back at 3-2.
"That's the Big 12, especially this year," said Mason, who scored in double figures for the ninth straight game and 13th time this season. "Every game pretty much comes down to the last possession. So, if we can just keep stringing them along, you never know what can happen."
Baylor goes back on the road to face West Virginia (9-9, 1-5) at 8 p.m. Monday in Morgantown. The Mountaineers picked up their first conference win on Saturday with a stunning 65-64 win over No. 7 Kansas as all three ranked teams in the league suffered losses on the same day.