By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            LUBBOCK, Texas – For a half, seventh-ranked Baylor looked like it would be just fine without Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, taking a seven-point halftime lead on No. 11 Texas Tech Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 14,923 at United Supermarkets Arena. 
            Playing their first game since the 6-8 junior forward suffered a season-ending knee injury, the Bears (21-5, 9-4) just had no answer for Kevin Obanor in the second half. 
            Knocking down four 3-pointers, missing only one shot and scoring 21 of his 23 points in the second half, the 6-8 transfer from Oral Roberts led the Red Raiders (20-6, 9-4) to an 83-73 win to complete their first season sweep in the series since 2005. 
            "I think it started on the glass, he got himself going," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of Obanor, who added 13 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season and 31^st of his career. "He's a grown man. He does a good job getting in position and wedging. Once the ball goes in, and you're a scorer, it makes things easier for you. They did a good job getting him the ball, getting 3's. We did a bad job losing him. Obviously, he hurt us in both games."
            Obanor scored 13 points in last month's 65-62 win over Baylor, when Tech rallied from a double-digit first-half deficit and trailed by five at the half. 
            First-year Tech head coach Mark Adams said Obanor "just put it in another gear in the second half."
            "Kevin Obanor put us on his shoulders and said, 'I'm not going to let us lose,' and had a great 20 minutes," said Adams, who became the first Tech coach since Bob Knight to sweep Baylor. "He really just took the game over."
            An energized Baylor team controlled the first half and trailed for only two minutes, pushing its lead to 35-27 on a three-point play by Matthew Mayer and then answering a Tech run with four-straight points to take a 39-32 lead into the break. 
            LJ Cryer, who had missed the previous five games with a foot injury, hit his first two 3-point attempts and finished with six points and an assist in 15 minutes
            "First half, we did a good job. Second half, we didn't," Drew said. "We haven't had much time to practice since Jon's been gone. It's going to take some time to adjust. It's kind of like starting over. We've had so many guys come and go. It's great to get LJ back and get some minutes. Hopefully, we can build off that."
            Starting a trend that saw the Red Raiders score 13 second-chance points in the second half, Obanor grabbed an offensive board and dished out to Terrance Shannon for a 3-pointer that began a 14-3 run and gave Tech the lead for good. 
            Baylor pulled within 53-51 when James Akinjo hit a pair of free throws and Adam Flagler knocked down a 15-foot jumper. Obanor scored nine points in an 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 64-51, starting it with a three-point play and hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. 
            "We know what he can do behind the 3-point line, and we had a lot of mishaps in the second half to allow him to shoot," said Flagler, who hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for his team-best 19^th game in double digits. "We definitely need to go back and focus a lot more on the scout and apply that to the game a lot better in both halves, not just one half."
            To their credit, the Bears didn't go away, twice rallying from 13-point deficits. Mayer, Flagler and Akinjo hit three-straight 3-pointers in a 47-second stretch, and Jeremy Sochan made one of two free throws with 55.5 seconds to make it a two-possession game, 76-71. 
            "Our guys showed grit to the final whistle," said Flo Thamba, who had seven points and nine rebounds, grabbing seven on the offensive end. "We never gave in. Even though we were down 10, we battled it out and kept playing."
            Tech sealed it by making 5-of-6 from the line in the last minute, hit 24-of-30 for the game and finished with a 21-13 edge in second-chance points. Bryson Williams (17), Adonis Arms (15) and Shannon (14) also scored in double figures for the Red Raiders. 
            Akinjo led three double-figure scorers for the Bears with 18 points and seven assists. Mayer chipped in with 13 points, while Sochan had eight points and 10 rebounds.
            "It's not going to be easy," Flagler said of replacing Tchamwa Tchatchoua. "He's one of the best glue guys in the country. He does some amazing things, and we definitely miss him out there. It's a work in progress, but we'll figure it out and move on from there."
            Baylor returns home to host TCU (16-7, 5-6) at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center. The Horned Frogs are coming off a 54-51 loss at home to Iowa State and have dropped three of their last four.