LJ Cryer scored 20 points and Kendall Brown added 13 points and 10 assists as No. 9 Baylor rolled to an easy 89-60 win over Nicholls State on Monday afternoon in Waco, Texas.
Brown also had a game-high nine rebounds for the Bears (2-0), who went wire-to-wire. Baylor led by 20 points at intermission, by 26 after a 3-pointer from Adam Flagler nine minutes into the second half and kept its foot on the gas.
Jeremy Sochan added 14 points and Flagler and Matthew Mayer each added 12 for the Bears. Baylor had 33 assists on 37 made baskets, forged a 48-26 edge on the boards, a 45-17 advantage in bench scoring and a 44-24 margin in points in the paint in the victory.
Baylor attempted just five free throws in the game, making two of them.
Ty Gordon led Nicholls State with 20 points. Latrell Jones added 11 points for the Colonels (3-1), who were picked in the preseason to finish as the Southland Conference champion.
The Bears scored the game's first six points but were up by just 9-8 after a 3-pointer by Nicholls' Pierce Spencer three minutes into the contest. Baylor then produced a 14-3 run over the ensuing four minutes to push its lead to 14 points, and had a 37-15 lead after a 3-pointer by Sochan at the 7:57 mark of the half.
Baylor expanded its advantage to as many as 25 points in the half before settling for a 48-28 lead at the break.
Mayer and Cryer paced Baylor with 12 points each in the first half as Bears outshot Nicholls 48.8 percent to 37 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Colonels 26-14. Gordon led Nicholls with 12 points.
--Field Level Media
Nicholls State | Baylor | |
Ty Gordon 20 | Scoring | LJ Cryer 20 |
DeVante Carter 4 | Assists | Kendall Brown 10 |
Manny Littles 5 | Rebounds | Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua 10 |
Emmanuel Little 4 | Free Throws Made | LJ Cryer 1 |
Pierce Spencer 5 | Steals | James Akinjo 2 |
Pierce Spencer 1 | Blocks | Kendall Brown 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Nicholls State | 60 | 40.0 | 7-20 | 9-16 | 10 | 22 | 1 | 13 | 18 |
Baylor | 89 | 51.4 | 13-30 | 2-5 | 33 | 43 | 4 | 8 | 20 |