Keyonte George scored a career-best 32 points and collected seven rebounds to lead Baylor to an 83-78 victory over host West Virginia on Wednesday night in Big 12 play at Morgantown, W.Va.
Adam Flagler had 19 points and LJ Cryer added 13 as the Bears (11-5, 1-3 Big 12) snapped a three-game losing streak. West Virginia transfer Jalen Bridges contributed 10 points and a season-best 11 rebounds.
Joe Toussaint scored a career-best 20 points, Tre Mitchell had 14 points and a season-high 15 rebounds before fouling out, and Seth Wilson added 11 points for West Virginia (10-6, 0-4). Kedrian Johnson and Erik Stevenson each scored 10 points and both players also fouled out.
Baylor made 44.2 percent of its shots and was 9 of 23 from 3-point range.
The Mountaineers hit 38.3 percent of their shots and were 8 of 24 from behind the arc.
George drained a long 3-pointer with 2:11 left during a 9-2 run as Baylor opened up a 74-68 lead.
West Virginia later moved within 79-76 on Wilson’s 3-pointer with 19.7 seconds left. Flagler split two free throws less than a second later before Toussaint scored on a driving hoop to bring the Mountaineers within two with 12.2 seconds to play.
George split two free throws with 11.6 seconds left to keep the door open for West Virginia. But Toussaint’s 3-pointer was off the mark with six seconds left and Flagler got the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining to seal it.
George converted a three-point play to give Baylor a 41-34 lead with 17:37 remaining before West Virginia pulled within one on three occasions. After the third time, Johnson made two free throws with 11:41 left to give the Mountaineers their first lead of the game at 49-48.
Ten seconds later, Josh Ojianwuna scored on a dunk to put the Bears back on top.
Mitchell hit a 15-footer to give West Virginia a 59-54 lead with 7:52 left.
The Bears responded by scoring 11 of the next 15 points to take a two-point edge with 3:26 left.
Stevenson responded with a 3-pointer 22 seconds later to put the Mountaineers back ahead 66-65.
George had 15 points to help Baylor lead 33-27 at the half.
The Bears jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never trailed. George capped it in style as he tossed up a defended corner 3-pointer while falling out of bounds and it went in to give the Bears the six-point halftime advantage.
–Field Level Media
