Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Seeing freshman VJ Edgecombe do his thing every day in practice, not even his SportsCenter-worthy plays surprise his Baylor teammates.
 
But when he crashed the boards and threw home a rim-rattling dunk off a missed 3-pointer in Saturday's 94-69 matinee-performance win over the Norfolk State Spartans, the Baylor bench and sparse Foster Pavilion crowd erupted in unison.
 
"I was on the bench, so I had a great view of it," said Miami transfer Norchad Omier, who had a game-high 19 points to go with seven rebounds, five steals and two assists. "His head was above the rim. He does stuff like that in practice, so I want to say I was not surprised, but I was surprised. That was crazy."
 
Sitting courtside, waiting to go back in the game, fellow freshman Robert Wright III said it was "crazy how high he was."
 
"He's good for a SportsCenter play," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team improved to 7-3 with its second-straight win at home. "But what's more VJ is, you see he gets on the floor, you see he had nine rebounds, you see he had three steals.
 
"A lot of elite freshmen, it's based just on scoring. When they get to the NBA, they've got max-deal guys that have been in the league for 10, 12 years. Now, what else can you do? That's what VJ brings is somebody that doesn't have to score to affect the game."
 
While Edgecombe might have filled up the highlight reel, Wright had his first-career double-double with 16 points and a freshman school-record 13 assists. The previous record was set by L.J. Rose with 12 versus Hardin-Simmons on Jan. 19, 2013.
 
"I just want to thank my teammates for finishing the plays," said Wright, who dished the record-setter to 6-10 freshman Marino Dubvracic for a dunk with 36 seconds left. "They did a great job of finishing the passes I was making today. And it just comes real natural, just getting my guys open. . . . I was glad that Marino was able to dunk it and finish it."
 
 
The Bears got off to a slow start in the first half and led by just six at the break, 39-33, but they got it rolling with a 55-point second half led by Josh Ojianwuna, Miami transfer Norchad Omier and Edgecombe.
 
"I'll be honest, you come out and it's a packed Foster, guys are fired up," Drew said. "You come out and it's an early morning, empty Foster, it's not. . . . I know our students are preparing for finals. But that's the reality. So, give Norfolk credit. And the good thing is, I don't think we play 11 o'clock the rest of the way. So, we should be all right."
 
One of four double-figure scorers, Omier had 19 points and seven rebounds. Edgecombe had 16 points, nine boards, four assists and three steals, while Ojianwuna was 6-of-7 from the floor and had 16 points.
 
"You've got to give that team credit. They were a great team, they win their conference every year," Omier said. "Then, I've got to credit my teammates. We didn't have the best start, but we picked it up in the second half. Rob sharing the ball, VJ dunking on people, people hitting shots. I'm just happy to be on this team, enjoying every moment of it. I love it here."
 
Norfolk (6-5), which has lost four of its last six, had three double-figure scorers with Christian Ings (12), Brian Moore (11) and Jaylani Darden (11), who knocked down three of the Spartans' 10 3-pointers.
 
Baylor finished with a 46-22 edge in paint points and shot 55.4% overall, including 9-of-26 from outside the arc.
 
The Bears will have an extended break for final exams and the Christmas holidays before returning to host Arlington Baptist on Dec. 27 and opening league play with a game at home against Utah on New Year's Eve.
 
"We're praying for a healthy team so we can all get better during this time," Drew said. "Again, all summer, we didn't have (Langston Love). When Lang got back, we had some other guys out, from VJ to Rob to Jeremy (Roach). And we're just trying to get everybody healthy."