Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – For five minutes, the 11^th-ranked Baylor Bears proved they're arguably one of the best teams in the country, outscoring second-ranked Houston, 12-0, to start the second half of Saturday's game at Foster Pavilion.
 
But in the five minutes that ultimately mattered the most, Houston held Baylor without a bucket for more than four minutes and hit 9-of-10 from the free throw line to escape the Foster Pavilion with an 82-76 overtime victory before another sellout crowd of 7,500.
 
"To be able to come in here and get a win, I don't care how the game went, this is a great road win for us. And that's all that matters," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team improved to 24-3 overall and atop the Big 12 standngs at 11-3.
 
Baylor coach Scott Drew said the Bears (19-8, 8-6) "were all embarrassed by how we played, how we competed" in the first half. The visiting Cougars turned Baylor's 11 first-half turnovers into 13 points, put up 12 more shots and hit a sizzling 58% to take a 41-25 lead into the break.
 
"We just felt like they brought it to us in the first half," said Baylor forward Jalen Bridges, who notched his first double-double of the year with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. "They're the most physical team that we've played so far, and I feel like we were a little taken aback. We just came out in the second half trying to punch them back."
 
The Bears might not have knocked them out, but they certainly got in a few haymakers in a 12-0 run that whittled a 16-point halftime deficit down to just four, 41-37, when Bridges fed guard Jayden Nunn for a layup.
 
RayJ Dennis, who finished with 21 points and five assists while turning it over eight times, hit a jumper and 3-pointer to start the run and also assisted on a Nunn 3-pointer. Bridges was 2-for-2 from the line before Nunn capped it off with his second-chance layup after getting the first one blocked by J'Wan Roberts.
 
"Making shots shouldn't dictate how you do defensively," Drew said. "But when you hold them to 33% in the second half (9-of-27), it gets you in transition. And when you get in transition, you're able to get some easier buckets. And when you get easier buckets, you're able to get some confidence, and then you get the crowd involved and get momentum and it all kind of snowballs. And unfortunately, we couldn't get any of that in the first half."
 
After Houston built it back up to a nine-point lead, Bridges scored seven-straight points on four free throws and a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game, 62-61, with 2:50 left. But the Bears never even tied it up until freshman 7-footer Yves Missi scored a layup through contact to make it 69-69 with 4.4 seconds left in regulation.
 
That was also Missi's first points of the game, but he missed the and-one free throw after being fouled by Damian Dunn.
 
"We made 82% of our free throws (18-of-22)," Drew said. "We needed (to shoot 84%)."
 
Taking the outlet from Roberts, Jamal Shead launched a deep 3-pointer that swished through the net, but the replay showed that the ball was still in his hands when the clock went to 0.0 and the red light on the backboard lit up.
 
"I felt like it was three different games," Sampson said. "It isn't like we didn't know they would come back in this building with their fan base and their talent level. A 16-point lead isn't that big of a deal in this building against a team that makes 3's like them. How did we get out to a 16-point lead? Same thing that happened to them happened to us. We made a bunch of shots and our kids come out focused."
 
Baylor took its first and only lead of the game 22 seconds into the overtime period when Dennis backed down Baylor transfer LJ Cryer and knocked down a jumper to put the Bears on top, 71-69. But that was their last made field goal until the last five seconds of the OT period.
 
Cryer, who had 15 points, two assists and no turnovers in his return to Waco, made 6-of-6 from the line in helping the Cougars build an eight-point lead, 80-72. Too little too late, but Dennis and Nunn both made layups in the final seconds to end Baylor's drought from the field.
 
"When we get stops, we're a hard time to beat," said Walter, who scored a game-high 23 points. "And I think we showed that in those first five minutes (of the second half). When we get stops and we get out running, we're getting to the paint or we're moving the rock, it's pretty hard to stop us."
 
Roberts had 17 points and eight rebounds, Emanuel Sharp scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half and overtime and Shead overcame a rough shooting night to record a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
 
Nunn gave Baylor its fourth double-figure scorer with 11 points, five assists and no turnovers in 43 minutes. Four of the Bears' five starters played at least 42 minutes, with Missi logging 33 minutes and finishing with just two points and five rebounds with four turnovers.
 
"Coming off the BYU game, where we were embarrassed on the glass. . . . to come back and play Baylor basketball, 14-9 second-chance points, outrebound Houston 37-29, proud of that. Being able to get 50-50 balls that we didn't get at BYU. So, as a coach, proud of the effort, disappointed with the execution in the first 20 minutes."
 
In a quick turnaround, Baylor will go on the road to face TCU (19-8, 8-6) at 8 p.m. Monday in Fort Worth in a game that will be broadcast by ESPN. The Horned Frogs have won three of their last four, defeating Cincinnati, 75-57, on Saturday.