National Basketball Association
Baylor 81, Huston-Tillotson 61
When: 8:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Where: Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas
Officials:
# Marques Pettigrew, # Rick Randall, # Roland Simmons
Attendance:
4760
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 21 Baylor 81, Huston-Tillotson 61: Rico Gathers recorded a career-high 25 points and broke a 60-year-old school record with 28 rebounds - 11 on offense - as the host Bears pulled away from the NAIA member Rams after leading by one at halftime.
Taurean Prince added 13 points and six rebounds for Baylor (14-4), which was without starters Kenny Chery and Royce O'Neale (rest). Al Freeman contributed 10 points, five assists and five rebounds as the Bears dominated the boards 60-30 and blocked eight shots - five by freshman Johnathan Motley.
Shae Fields scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half while Malcolm Ballard registered 13 points and 12 rebounds for Huston-Tillotson (3-14), which lost its fifth straight game after shooting 33.3 percent from the field. Fields scored 30 in the Rams' 131-100 loss to Our Lady of the Lake on Tuesday in San Antonio.
Fields was 7-of-13 from the field - 5-for-9 from 3-point range - and helped Huston-Tillotson lead by as many as nine before Prince's 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer put Baylor on top 37-36. Gathers, who leads the nation with 5.7 offensive rebounds per game, grabbed 16 boards in the first half while scoring 11 points - his ninth double-double of the season - to help the Bears seize a 29-18 advantage on the glass and overcome a 3-for-13 performance beyond the arc.
Baylor went on a 13-3 run in less than four minutes coming out of the break as Gathers and Prince scored all the points while Gathers, who averages 10.8 points and 12.2 rebounds, grabbed seven boards. The Bears continued to pour it on as Gathers, who also broke Michael Beasley's Big 12 record of 24 rebounds in a game set in 2007, converted an alley-oop dunk off Ishmail Wainright's feed to make it 59-44 and Baylor extended the lead to as many as 26.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The last Baylor player to record a 20-20 game was Brian Skinner, who scored 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in a 90-57 victory over Hardin-Simmons on Feb. 10, 1997. ... The previous school record for rebounds in a game was 27 by Jerry Mallett in an 88-73 win over North Texas on Feb. 1, 1955. ... Huston-Tillotson had previously lost to Division I teams Incarnate Word, Texas State and Lamar this season by an average of 30.3 points.
Top Game Performances
Huston-Tillotson |
|
Baylor |
Shai Fields 27 |
Scoring |
Rico Gathers 25 |
Quincy Durden 5 |
Assists |
Al Freeman 5 |
Malcolm Ballard 12 |
Rebounds |
Rico Gathers 28 |
Shai Fields 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Rico Gathers 7 |
Shai Fields 3 |
Steals |
Lester Medford 1 |
Joel Clarke 4 |
Blocks |
Johnathan Motley 5 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Huston-Tillotson |
61 |
33.3 |
8-21 |
9-15 |
14 |
28 |
6 |
8 |
9 |
Baylor
|
81 |
42.4 |
5-21 |
20-26 |
22 |
58 |
8 |
2 |
17 |