National Basketball Association
Baylor 70, Texas A&M CC 46
When: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, November 13, 2017
Where: Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas
Officials:
# Michael Greenstein, # Doug Sirmons, # Michael Stephens
Attendance:
4454
By The Sports Xchange
WACO, Texas -- Last week, Baylor opened the season by burning up the nets as the Bears shot 66 percent from the field and 71 percent from 3-point range.
Although the statistics leveled out on a cold shooting night against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 25th-ranked Baylor found the spark it needed to ease past the Islanders 70-46 on Monday night at the Ferrell Center.
"It's a tale of two games," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "First game you can't miss, the second game you can't score. Credit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, they had a great game plan -- shorten the game, make you play defense."
Point guard Manu Lecomte kick-started the Bears (2-0) in the second half when he took over on the offensive end. Lecomte scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes.
"Coach Drew trusts me when we don't have anything at the end of the shot clock, he just trusts me with the ball in my hands," Lecomte said.
Forwards Terry Maston and Nuni Omot each scored 12 points to join Lecomte in double digits.
Guard Joseph Kilgore scored 10 to lead Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-1).
The Islanders battled foul trouble for most of the game as forward Perry Francois fouled out with 8:11 left. Fellow forward Sean Rhea picked up his fourth foul with 10:04 left and was limited to 28 minutes of action.
"I really wanted to play (Francois) more minutes," Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coach Willis Wilson said. "That's been a nemesis for our big guys. Hopefully that's a wakeup call for our guys that we have to do things a different way."
Both teams struggled from the free-throw line, though the Bears got their way more often. Baylor made 15 of 24 from the stripe and Texas A&M Corpus Christi went 1 of 4.
Baylor started to gain some separation early in the second half with a 10-0 run that Omot capped with a 3-pointer from the corner. Omot's 3-pointer gave the Bears a 40-28 lead with 11:42 left.
Omot later caused the home crowd to erupt when he jumped from the middle of the lane and threw down a monster dunk over Islanders forward Elijah Schmidt.
"He had one a little similar (in practice) but nothing like that," Maston said. "He just kept going up and up and up."
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took advantage of a slow start for Baylor. The Islanders led for more than five minutes of the first half.
The Bears made just one of their first eight free throws and missed their first eight 3-point attempts as they struggled to find a rhythm.
Kilgore hit a jumper to give the Islanders a 20-19 lead with 4:40 left in the first half.
"I think it gave us energy and confidence and I thought that was also reflected in the early part of the second half," Wilson said. "But the reality with young guys, there's a tendency to let missed shots effect what you do on the defensive end of the floor and I thought that really caught up with us."
However, Baylor ended the half on a 9-2 run to lead 28-22 at the break. Lecomte hit two free throws and the Bears' first 3-pointer of the game to fuel the surge. Maston capped it with a fade-away jumper for a 28-20 lead with 50 seconds left in the first half.
Maston scored eight points and Lecomte added seven to pace Baylor in the first half.
Schmidt led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first 20 minutes as he scored six and grabbed four rebounds.
NOTES: Baylor has won 45 consecutive nonconference home games, the second-longest such streak in the nation behind Duke, which has won 134 straight. ... Texas A&M-Corpus Christi opened its season with a buzzer-beating 69-68 win over NAIA opponent Our Lady of the Lake on Friday. ... Baylor entered with a 2-1 lead in the all-time series versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, though the Islanders won the last meeting when they posted a 73-58 victory on Dec. 4, 2004, in Waco.
Top Game Performances
| Texas A&M CC |
|
Baylor |
|
Joseph Kilgore 10 |
Scoring |
Manu Lecomte 23 |
|
Joseph Kilgore 2 |
Assists |
Jake Lindsey 4 |
|
Joseph Kilgore 11 |
Rebounds |
Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. 10 |
|
David Bloom 1 |
Free Throws Made |
Manu Lecomte 10 |
|
Kareem South 1 |
Steals |
Manu Lecomte 1 |
|
Joseph Kilgore 1 |
Blocks |
Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Texas A&M CC
|
46 |
36.2 |
3-18 |
1-4 |
9 |
26 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
| Baylor
|
70 |
47.2 |
5-19 |
15-24 |
13 |
34 |
6 |
4 |
8 |
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