After a slow start, the Baylor Bears turned things into high gear to wrap up an opening night win over the visiting UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros in a 96-81 win Monday in Waco, Texas.
The Bears were paced by four players scoring double figures with Cameron Carr (28) and highly-touted freshman Tounde Yessoufou (24) leading the bunch. Carr set a career-high in points in the first half and finished the day going 9 for 14 from the field and 3 for 6 from 3-point range.
Yessoufou started the day missing his first six shots, but he made his final 10, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the first half.
Obi Agbim (16) and Dan Skillings Jr. (15) also logged double figures with five made 3-pointers between them.
The Vaqueros were led by Marvin McGhee III (16), Filip Brankovic (14) as well as bench players Zae Blake (14) and Kye Dickson (10) in the loss.
The Bears opened the second half on a 20-8 run, making seven of their first 10 shots after Carr took a steal coast-to-coast in the first six minutes of the half for a 66-45 lead.
The Vaqueros teetered around cutting it to single digits as the Bears were unable to string together multiple made field goals, but they made enough to hold the double-digit margin and get the win.
The Bears outrebounded the Vaqueros 42-26.
UTRGV controlled the majority of the first half, and caught Baylor sleeping across the first nine minutes.
The Vaqueros made three of their first four shots and opened with a quick 9-0 run with seven points coming from Brankovic.
The Bears started to come alive and tied the game at nine but continued to struggle from 3-point range. UTRGV’s Jaylen Washington made a layup with 11:14 left in the half to cap a 17-1 run for the Vaqueros as they built a 26-12 lead. They started the game shooting 8 for 13.
A key timeout from Bears coach Scott Drew and a full five player swap by UTRGV led to a Baylor 16-2 run over the next five minutes which tied the game at 28 after a Yessoufou turn-around jumper with 6:13 left.
The Bears closed the first half going 8-for-8 and Yessoufou capped it with his 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Baylor a 46-37 lead, the biggest lead for the Bears up to that point.
