By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Eight Men Out is more than a 1963 book penned by Eliot Asinof or the 1988 movie directed by John Sayles. More and more, it's looking like an apt description of the seventh-ranked Baylor Bears.
            Down to basically a six-man rotation with guards Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer both sidelined with injuries, Baylor built a 21-point second-half lead and withstood a late rally to beat the TCU Horned Frogs, 72-62, Saturday afternoon at the Ferrell Center. 
            "We were, obviously, short-handed without LJ and Adam," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team was also playing its second game without 6-8 junior forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua after he suffered a season-ending knee injury last Saturday. "I thought everybody really stepped up. We had a nice six-man rotation. 
            "I thought the guys stayed out of foul trouble, were aggressive and really locked-in on the defensive end. We were really good defensively, and we were really good after getting stops, getting out in transition. Luckily, they're young, and they can recover quickly."
            It was actually the youngest that led the Bears (22-5, 10-4) to the win, with Jeremy Sochan matching his season-high with 17 points and fellow freshman Kendall Brown adding 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. They "shared the sugar," with three of Brown's five assists leading to Sochan buckets. 
            "We've got a little connection," said Brown, who was 5-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the floor. 
            "It's the roommate connection," Drew said. "They kind of look at each like who didn't do the dishes."
            Baylor got balanced scoring with double-digit points as well from Matthew Mayer (16), James Akinjo (11) and Flo Thamba, who finished two boards shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Akinjo, the only remaining guard in a three-guard rotation that produced 57 points in the Bears' 76-64 win in Fort Worth, added eight assists. 
            "We have great players, and we know what they can do," Brown said. "We just give them the opportunity, and they made the plays."
            Scoring the first seven points, Baylor never trailed and was up by 10 points at the half, 33-23, when Akinjo fed Brown for a dunk. 
            "They're playing really six guys in this game, so get somebody in foul trouble," said TCU head coach Jamie Dixon. "We clearly didn't do that. They got to the line 29 times, we got the line 11 times. . . . Nothing we tried . . . we tried to press, tried to get them in foul trouble. Couldn't do it. That's on me. I've got to get that message across and we've got to execute better."
            In a scene eerily similar to the previous Saturday, when Tchamwa Tchatchoua had to be helped off the floor, TCU center Eddie Lampkin Jr. went down with a knee injury late in the first half and couldn't put any weight on his right leg as he was helped back to the locker room. But, he returned in the second half and played limited minutes, finishing with three points and two rebounds. 
            "We kind of erred on the side of caution there based on what I'd seen and what we had gone through," Dixon said. "Eddie seems to be OK, but we'll see going forward. We obviously need him."
            Completely in control after scoring the first six points of the second half, Baylor stretched its lead to 66-46 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Mayer and led by as many as 21 before the Horned Frogs finished the game on a 13-2 run and held the Bears without a field goal for the last five minutes. 
            "We just went in with a growth mindset and stayed positive," Sochan said. "We wanted to be the toughest team, and I think we did that for most of the game."
            Micah Peavy and Emanuel Miller scored 16 points apiece to lead TCU (16-8, 5-7), which has lost three in a row and four of its last five games. 
            Baylor goes back on the road to face Oklahoma State (13-13, 6-8) in an ESPN "Big Monday" game at 8 p.m. Monday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. The Bears stayed within striking distance of sixth-ranked and league-leading Kansas (22-4, 10-2), which blew out West Virginia, 71-58, on the road.
              "Says a lot," Sochan said of Baylor staying in the Big 12 title race. "Just imagine if we had a full team. But it is what it is, and we can't change it. We've just got to go through it and persevere with the adversity."