Ja’Kobe Walter and Yves Missi scored 16 points each as No. 15 Baylor dominated the first 10 minutes after halftime on the way to a 62-54 win over TCU on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bears (20-8, 9-6 Big 12) avenged a triple-overtime home loss to TCU last month and moved into solo fourth place in the conference standings. Baylor clinched its sixth consecutive 20-plus-win season.
Baylor led by just two points at halftime but took charge with a spirited run when Walter poured in 13 of his points. The Bears led by as many as 18 points after a free throw by Josh Ojianwuna with 9:53 remaining and waltzed to the finish line.
Jalen Bridges added 15 points for Baylor, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Jameer Nelson Jr.’s 11 points led TCU (19-9, 8-7), while Emanuel Miller added 10 for the Horned Frogs.
The game went back and forth over the initial eight minutes, producing seven lead changes before two free throws and a layup by Missi allowed Baylor to take a 21-16 advantage near the midway mark of the first half. The Horned Frogs answered with a 7-0 run capped by a pair of free throws by Nelson with 6:11 to play in the half to go up 23-21.
The Bears swung back with a layup by RayJ Dennis and two free throws by Jayden Nunn to move back to the lead at 25-23 with 4:58 remaining before halftime. Neither team scored the rest of the half as Baylor missed its final six shots and the Horned Frogs went scoreless for the final 6:11.
Bridges led all scorers with 12 points before halftime. Both teams struggled from the floor, with the Bears shooting 30.8 percent and TCU making just 8 of 27 shots (29.6 percent) and missing all eight of its 3-point attempts.
JaKobe Coles and Xavier Cork paced the Horned Frogs with six points each in the first half.
Baylor roared out of the gate in the second half, going on a 10-0 run over four-plus minutes to turn a one-point lead into a 42-31 margin. When Walter poured in a second-chance 3-pointer with 11:25 play, the Bears had built a 17-point advantage, the highest gap to that point.
The Bears wound up shooting 37.7 percent from the floor to the Horned Frogs’ 33.3 percent.
–Field Level Media
