Jeremy Roach drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer as part of his 20 points to lift No. 13 Baylor to a last-gasp 99-98 win over No. 22 St. John’s in double overtime on Thursday in the semifinals of the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas.
Baylor (4-1) advances to play No. 11 Tennessee in the championship game on Friday after the Volunteers beat Virginia 64-42. St. John’s (4-1) will play the Cavaliers in the consolation finals, also on Friday.
RJ Luis Jr. nailed a 3-pointer to hand St. John’s a 91-88 lead in the second overtime before Aaron Scott added to the margin with another basket from beyond the arc with 3:29 left. After the Bears cut it to 94-92, Simeon Wilcher flushed a 3-pointer to make it a five-point game with 2:21 remaining.
VJ Edgecombe’s 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left brought Baylor to within two points and, after a timeout, Baylor fouled Zuby Ejiofor, who missed both free throws with 4.1 seconds to play. Norchad Omier grabbed the rebound and fed Roach for his winning shot.
Omier led Baylor with 24 points and 10 rebounds, with Robert Wright scoring 17 points, Jalen Celestine adding 14, Jayden Nunn scoring 12 with eight rebounds and Edgecombe contributing 10.
Ejiofor scored 22 points and took 10 rebounds and Scott added 20 points for St. John’s. Luis hit for 16, Kadary Richmond had 14 points and seven assists and Deivon Smith scored 10 in the loss.
The Bears trailed by 18 points in the first half and by 14 at halftime but grabbed their first lead of the game on a jumper by Nunn with 2:41 remaining. Roach then canned a contested 3-pointer with 1:48 left.
A free throw by Luis cut the lead to two points and Richmond made a jumper to tie the game with seven seconds to play. Edgecombe missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.
Omier worked hard for a three-point play with 2:05 remaining in OT, and then Edgecombe got loose for a dunk after a steal by Nunn to make it 86-81 Baylor. Richmond’s bucket and free throw brought the margin back to two points with 41 seconds left before he canned another pair from the charity stripe to tie the game at 86 and force a second extra period.
St. John’s was up 44-30 at the break as Ejiofor led all scorers with 12 points before halftime while Wright paced Baylor with 11 points.
–Field Level Media
