By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
No. 14 Baylor men’s basketball showed its resilience in its 72-68 comeback road-victory over No. 17 Texas Christian University on Saturday afternoon in the Bramlage Coliseum in Fort Worth. The Bears’ backcourt combo of senior guard Adam Flagler and junior guard LJ Cryer combined for 51 points to help the team improve to 19-6 overall and 8-4 Big 12.
“That’s Big 12 basketball,” head coach Scott Drew said after the game. “We all know the importance of good guard play and LJ and Adam really came through. I thought the last eight minutes defensively we finally had a couple of stops. They do a great job executing their stuff.”
Flagler led the way for all scorers with 28 points, with 20 coming in the second half along with four assists. Cryer followed with 23 points of his own. Baylor committed 12 turnovers to TCU’s 13.
The first half was a tight one most of the way, and despite holding a lead the majority of the first, the Bears trailed 34-31 at the break. Cryer pitched in 14 for the half while Flagler scored eight to account 22 of Baylor’s points.
“At the end of the end of the day, it was time to buckle down, and as a team we wanted to be connected. A lot wasn’t going our way,” Flagler said.
The second half started as a more back and forth contest until TCU caught fire and took control of the game. With just under 10 minutes left to play, Baylor was in a 10-point deficit. Flagler caught ablaze, knocking down multiple threes down the stretch as the Bears kicked off a 15-2 run to retake control of the contest. Ultimately, the defending Big 12 champs were able to hold on to their lead and win their third-straight and ninth of the last 10.
Up next, the Bears return home to host West Virginia University at 8 p.m. Monday in the Ferrell Center.
