No. 6 MBB Beats Arizona State to Open The Battle 4 Atlantis

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Much like last year's national championship team, what makes the sixth-ranked Baylor men so difficult to defend is that the points can come from so many different places.
            On a night when the Bears didn't get their normal bench production, four of the five starters scored in double figures as Baylor (5-0) defeated Arizona State, 75-63, Wednesday night in the final opening-round game of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
            "I'm glad we have depth," said 6-10 senior forward Flo Thamba, who had 11 points, five rebounds, two steals and a block in 23 minutes. "You're not looking to be your own man out there. That's the great thing about our program is we help each other and do whatever it takes to win. They pass, and all I've got to do is finish."
            With Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer leading the way with 11 and 10 points, respectively, the Bears closed the first half on a 22-8 run to take a comfortable 45-31 lead into the break.
            "It's just a great thing being around this group of guys and being able to be out there with them," said Flagler, who finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting after missing the previous game with a hand injury. "It felt great being back out there with my brothers."
            Cryer had a streak of three-straight 20-point games snapped, but he still led the way with 15 points off the bench, knocking down 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Matthew Mayer broke out of a little bit of a shooting slump to knock down a pair of 3-pointers and score 14 points, while 6-8 freshman Kendall Brown was an efficient 4-of-5 from the floor and added 10 points.
            Baylor head coach Scott Drew, whose team won its 29^th-consecutive non-conference game and improved to 24-4 in regular-season tournaments since 2013, said "there's always jitters, nerves, excitement" in the first game of a tournament.
            "Second thing is it's really hard when you only get 20 minutes to warm up," he said. "It gets you out of your routine. It's the last game of the day. You've been waiting the entire day. So, I thought the guys did a really good job responding well."
            With DJ Horne hitting his first three shots, including two from outside the arc, the Sun Devils (2-3) had the early 11-5 lead and went toe-to-toe with the Bears through the first 11 ½ minutes. But, Baylor took the lead for good on a pull-up jumper by Arizona transfer James Akinjo, starting an 8-0 run that included two free throws and a jumper by Flagler.
            The lead ballooned to 16 on a Cryer 3-pointer before Jalen Graham closed the half with a pair of free throws that made it 45-31 at the break.
            "The best thing about us is we pride ourselves on our defense," Thamba said of the Bears holding ASU to 36% shooting from the field, including 10-of-29 in the second half. "We don't let our offense dictate our flow. I thought we did a really good job tonight."
            Baylor took its biggest lead of the game, 64-42, when Thamba scored on a layup off a dish from Akinjo, capping a 9-0 run. The Bears went cold over the last nine minutes, missing nine of their last 12 shots, as the Sun Devils outscored them, 21-11, the rest of the way.
            Horne had the hot hand for ASU, hitting 6-of-9 from outside the arc and finishing with a game-high 20 points, while grad transfer point guard Marreon Jackson from Toledo had five points to go with 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
            The Bears scored 16 points off ASU's 15 turnovers and dominated the boards in the second half, finishing with a 43-36 rebounding edge and getting eight second-chance points. Freshman Jeremy Sochan was 0-for-7 from the field, but had nine rebounds, three assists, one block and a steal, with Akinjo adding nine points and seven assists.
            "On nights that it's not your shooting nights, it's great to have others you can depend on and go to," Drew said. "That's the great thing about having a great rotation, a great bench. We go to the bench, and normally we get better."
            Baylor advances to the semifinals and will face VCU (3-2) at 4 p.m. CST Thursday. The Rams held Syracuse to 29% shooting and dominated the second half in a 67-55 win over the Orange.
            In the other first-round games, Michigan State (4-1) hit a last-second bucket in a 65-63 win over Loyola Chicago and 22^nd-ranked UConn (5-0) got a career-high 30 points from Adama Sanogo in a 115-109 double-overtime win over No. 19 Auburn.

No. 6 MBB Beats Arizona State to Open The Battle 4 Atlantis

Players Mentioned

James Akinjo

Kendall Brown

LJ Cryer

Adam Flagler

Matthew Mayer

Jeremy Sochan

Flo Thamba

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