WACO, Texas – Ja'Kobe Walter pitched in a team-high 23 points with a career-high nine rebounds to help spur No. 18/19 Baylor men's basketball to a 98-79 win over Cornell in the first game played at the Paul & Alejandra Foster Pavilion, on Tuesday night. 
 
The contest marked the first game played at the new Foster Pavilion, a $212-million dollar facility sitting on the banks of the Brazos River. The sixth-ranked Baylor women's team will open the building on Wednesday, hosting No. 25 TCU at 7 p.m. The outing at The Foster marked the end of an era at the previous home for the Bears, Ferrell Center, which saw Baylor posted a 401-169 overall record for 35 years. 
 
Baylor (11-2) rode a hot-shooting night, connecting on 55-percent of its field-goal attempts, and 14-of-31 3-pointers, and the strong effort from Walter to the venue-opening win. RayJ Dennis added 18 points and six assists, Yves Missi had a career-high 16 points and added five boards, and Jayden Nunn completed four in double figures with 10 points, five boards and four assists. Jalen Bridges added eight points, five rebounds and five assists. 
 
The Bears owned a 35-30 lead in total rebounds and had assists on 21 of 36 made baskets. 
 
Cornell (10-3) was led by Nazir Williams, who had 17 points. The Big Red shot 49 percent (30-for-61) in the setback, totaling 40 of their 79 points in the paint and 42 coming as bench points. 
 
THE RUNDOWN
The Bears scored the first points in the Foster Pavilion, an in-paint bucket from Missi. Cornell took its first lead of the game with a triple from Sean Hansen but the Bears scored the next six points to take an 8-3 lead which included a Walter basket on a drive and a pair of paint buckets from Missi. After a pair of baskets from Cornell, Bridges cleaned up the glass with a putback and after Cornell evened it at 10 with its second triple of the game, Walter gave the Bears a 12-10 lead at the first media break. 
 
After Cornell cut the BU lead to 15-14, the Bears pushed the ball in transition, with Bridges dishing the ball from the wing to an open Miro Little, who splashed his first triple. On the next possession, Little drilled a trey from the wing for a 21-14 Baylor lead.  
 
Out of under-12 media timeout, Dennis splashed a triple and Walter stretched the run to 13-0 with a pair of buckets, taking the Baylor lead to 28-14. Missi finished a slam on a lob from Dennis, and answered a Cornell bucket with a drive to his right and a finish off the glass. The lead grew to 34-19 after a pair of Langston Love free throws. 
 
After a Cornell basket, Dantwan Grimes scored four straight for the Bears as the lead grew to 38-24 and Missi answered a Cornell basket with his 12^th points of the game. Dennis pushed the lead to 42-28 before Cornell drilled its fourth triple of the game. Cornell cut the lead to nine before a Jayden Nunn take was finished off the glass for a 44-33 lead. 
 
The Bears closed on a 14-9 run to take a 58-42 lead into halftime, completed by a buzzer-beating wing triple from Walter. Missi and Walter lead the Bears with 12 points each, with Walter chipping in six rebounds. The Bears shot 59 percent on 22-of-37 in the first half, including an 8-of-19 stretch from 3-point range. Williams led Cornell, who shot 55 percent, with 14 points.
 
Walter opened the second half with corner 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to up the lead to 64-44. A pair of corner buckets sandwiched a Dennis jumper. A Bridges triple took the led to 70-48 at the first media timeout of the second half. 
 
Cornell answered out of the break on an 15-0 run to cut the lead to 70-63 with just over 10 minutes left in regulation. The crowd came alive at the Foster Pavilion as the Bears forced a defensive stop and then Walter's wing 3-pointer – his fourth of the game – snapped the streak and pushed the Bears back in front by 10. 
 
Missi and Dennis finished buckets to keep the lead at 12 with the lead heading to the under eight-minute media timeout at 77-67. Dennis sank his second 3-pointer of the game out of the timeout and Missi flushed a dunk for an 82-70 margin. Nunn hit a pair at the line for a 14-point lead as the clock ticked under six minutes. 
 
A Nunn step-back 3-pointer pushed the lead to 89-72 out of the under-four minute media timeout. The lead grew to 98-75 with just over 60 seconds left and the Bears finished off the win in the closing minute. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS
A 7-foot freshman from Cameroon, Missi set a new career high with 16 points, on 8-of-8 from the field, with five rebounds. Walter had a game-high 23 points, marking his fifth game with 20+ points on the year. His nine rebounds marked a new career best. 
 
Dennis reached double figures for the 59^th time in his last 62 games and Bridges set a new career best with five assists. 
 
STAT OF THE GAME
The nation's leader in 3-point shooting percentage, the Bears shot 45.2 percent from 3-point range, with Walter, Dennis, Bridge, Nunn and Little each connecting on multiple triples. In the second half, BU was 6-of-12 from 3-point distance. It marked the eighth time in 13 games that the Bears have shot over 40 percent from deep. 
 
NEXT
The Bears will return to action on Tuesday, traveling to open conference play at Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and the Baylor Sports Media Network.