Baylor's zone defense flustered Virginia Commonwealth in the second half, allowing the 20th-ranked Bears to grasp a 71-63 victory on Wednesday afternoon in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas.

Forward Johnathan Motley scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Baylor. Guards Manu Lecomte and Al Freeman pitched in 16 and 15 points respectively.

Guard JeQuan Lewis led VCU with 21. Forward Ahmed Hamdy-Mohamed added 14 points and guard Jonathan Williams had 12.

Baylor advances to play the winner of the Michigan State-St. John's game, while the Rams will play the loser of that contest.

The Bears (4-0) held VCU to 35 percent shooting in the second half after the Rams shot 58 percent in the first 20 minutes.

VCU made just two field goals in the first 7:46 of the second half and saw an eight-point lead shrink to one in that time.

Lecomte scored Baylor's final 11 points as he completed a 3-point play and went 9-for-9 from the free-throw line in the final 1:36.

Motley, who scored 14 points after the break, helped Baylor dig out of an eight-point deficit early in the second half. He had a tip-in and a pair of free throws to cap Baylor's 9-2 run to take a 45-44 lead with 10:59 left.

The Bears forward said Baylor's offense loosened up while the defense clamped down in the second half.

"Coach Drew put me in different positions on the court, just opened things up for me and let me go from the elbow," Motley said.

VCU (3-1) closed the final five minutes of the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 36-28 lead to halftime.

Forward Ahmed Hamdy-Mohamed went to the basket for an inside jumper that gave the Rams their first lead of the game, 27-26, with 4:11 left before the break.

Lewis then kicked the run into high gear with a 3-pointer from near the top of the arch, pushing the Rams' lead to four.

"I think we played really well for about 25 minutes," VCU coach Will Wade said. "It got away from us the last 15 minutes - they got us on the glass with the offensive rebounds, with (Johnathan) Motley. He did a great job. They are a really good team. We weren't able to dictate the action for a full 40 minutes which is what it was going to take against a team of that caliber."

Lewis finished the first half with 11 points after going 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

VCU's pressure defense forced Baylor into 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. However, the Bears came up with eight turnovers and converted them into nine points in the same period.

But Baylor brought its turnovers down to five in the final 20 minutes and, conversely, score 11 points off of nine VCU turnovers.

"We got some transitional looks in the first half," Wade said. "We couldn't create those opportunities as easily in the second half. That ultimately really hurt us."

Motley said Baylor's second-half refusal to go away came from the team's overall attitude.

"We don't worry about the rankings," Motley said. "We just go out here and play every day, play hard, play together and the final result is going to show."

NOTES: Baylor and VCU met for the fourth time, but the first since the two programs became NCAA Tournament regulars. The Bears evened the series at two wins apiece. VCU won the previous contest, 81-61, in November 1998 in Honolulu. ... Baylor entered the AP Top 25 this week at No. 20 on the strength of a 66-49 victory over then-fourth-ranked Oregon. ... VCU is accustomed to playing in high-profile nonconference tournaments. The Rams lost to Duke and Wisconsin at the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden last November.