By Chris Derrett
Sports Editor
Baylor’s path to the NCAA tournament became exponentially more difficult after falling 71-60 to Oklahoma State on Tuesday night in Stillwater, Okla.
Junior Quincy Acy led the Bears with 13 points, but unfortunately for Scott Drew’s team, the only new mark set by a Baylor player was a career low from senior LaceDarius Dunn.
Dunn finished 2 of 16 from the field, or 12 percent, the worst in any of his career conference games with at least three shot attempts.
“Two of 16 is outstanding defense on [Dunn],” Drew said. “We tried to drive, tried to get him to the free-throw line and unfortunately we couldn’t get him going that way either.”
Dunn entered Tuesday needing 12 points to surpass Texas Tech’s Andre Emmett as the Big 12’s all-time leading scorer. He fell short with seven points on the night.
If Dunn does have the record in the back of his mind, Drew hopes Dunn “gets it over with quick. I think with him being a senior he’d rather win the game because he knows what’s at stake for each and every game.”
Freshman Perry Jones III tallied 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting, and sophomore A.J. Walton notched 12 for his second double figure-scoring conference game of the season.
Walton’s trey made the score 54-52 favoring the Cowboys near the five-minute mark.
But Dunn was then blocked on a potential game-tying layup, and Oklahoma State converted a fastbreak layup on the other end that sparked a 9-0 Cowboys run ending at the three-minute mark.
Baylor’s loss sets the stage for Saturday’s matchup at home against Texas.
“We still have one home game left and the conference tournament,” Walton said. “We’re going to keep playing Baylor basketball and [keep] looking forward to what’s going to happen postseason.”