By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear insider
            FORT WORTH, Texas – With 14^th-ranked Baylor trailing No. 17 TCU by 10 on the road with under nine minutes to go, Adam Flagler decided it was "time to buckle down."
            Finishing off a 15-2 run with back-to-back 3-pointers, Flagler scored 16-straight points in a 4 ½ minute stretch and finished with a season-high 28 points to lead the Bears to a 72-68 win over the Horned Frogs Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 7,055 at Schollmaier Arena.
            LJ Cryer, who missed the second half of Wednesday's win over Oklahoma with a lower-leg injury, scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half as Baylor (19-6, 8-4) won its third-straight and ninth in the last 10 games to keep pace with fifth-ranked Texas (20-5, 9-3) and No. 9 Kansas (20-5, 8-4) in a tight Big 12 race that has the top six teams separated by two games.
            "LJ was coming off an injury, and we didn't know what to expect," said Baylor coach Scott Drew. "Guys did a great job finding him and setting good screens for him. Adam does a great job when guys get hot making sure they get opportunities. That's why (Cryer) gave us a great lift there and Adam gave us a great lift down the stretch."
            Playing without leading scorer Mike Miles Jr. and 6-11 sophomore center Eddie Lampkin, TCU (17-8, 6-6) managed to stay in it and even lead for most of the second half by scoring 50 points in the paint and outrebounding the Bears, 32-26. But the Frogs seemed to run out of gas in the final nine minutes, when they were outscored 26-12.
            "Coach (Jamie) Dixon is a great coach and put them in position to win the game," Drew said. "We know the importance of good guard play, and LJ and Adam really came through. And I thought the last eight minutes defensively, we finally got a couple of stops. . . . in the last eight minutes, we did more of what we do, and I think that helped."
            Drew said it was "on us coaches," but with Miles out, the defensive game plan was to "back it up and pack it in." That led to the Frogs scoring on backdoor cuts and easy layups, as they were up 34-31 at the half and 56-46 with nine minutes left.
            "I thought that lack of aggression made it easier for them to get it inside," Drew said. "The last eight minutes, I think we started expecting a little bit more and did what we do. We probably overthought this one."
            Cryer's hot shooting helped Baylor get off to a good start, scoring eight of the Bears' first 10 points, with Langston Love knocking down a 3-pointer for a 13-7 lead 6 ½ minutes into the game.
            Still trailing by five late in the half, TCU closed on a 9-4 run and went up 34-31 when JaKobe Coles knocked down a 3-pointer in the final seconds. Baylor had just one offensive rebound in the first half and was dominated on the boards, 17-10.
            "You've got to give them credit. We like to fight, but they were just tougher," Drew said. "In the second half, I thought we did a better job getting to the glass and doing what we normally do."
            TCU took its biggest lead, 56-46, on a three-point play by Xavier Cork with 9:13 remaining. But Baylor responded with that 15-2 run, starting with layups by Cryer and Jalen Bridges.
            Flagler then ignited, hitting four-straight shots and putting the Bears up 61-58 on back-to-back 3-pointers. After the Horned Frogs regained the lead with layups by Emanuel Miller and Coles, Flagler gave Baylor the lead for good when he hit all three free throws when he was fouled by Coles outside the arc.
            Damion Baugh, who finished with 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, scored on three layups to pull TCU back within two. And then, after Baylor turned it over against the press with 8.1 seconds left, Baugh missed badly on a shot from just inside the 3-point line when Flagler kept him from penetrating.
            Flagler then sealed the deal with a pair of free throws with 1.5 seconds left for the final margin.
            "We missed free throws, they made their free throws, and there's where the lead goes," Dixon said. "I thought we had some bad offensive possessions . . . but they made the plays, they made the 3's, and we didn't. That's on me to get our guys in better positions to do that."
            While Flagler and Cryer combined for nine 3-pointers and 51 points, TCU got better-balanced scoring with five players scoring at least nine points. Coles and Miller added 15 and 10 points, respectively, while Cork and Micah Peavy had nine points apiece.
            "I feel like Coach Drew coaches for moments like this," Flagler said, "to go on the road when everybody's against us. But we know who we're playing for. At the end of the day, it just prepares us for the long haul, what we want to do when March Madness comes."
            In a quick turnaround, the Bears host West Virginia (15-10, 4-8) at 8 p.m. Monday in an ESPN Big Monday matchup at the Ferrell Center. The Mountaineers had won four of its last five games before getting blown out by Texas, 94-60, Saturday in Austin in the first half of their Texas swing.