LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) Coach Scott Drew and No. 4 Baylor got exactly the kind of game they expected, and extended their winning streak even with a season-high 20 turnovers.
“Very proud of our guys from this standpoint … we knew it was going to be a rock fight,” Drew said. “You had two great defenses and two teams that really pride themselves on the defensive end.”
Davion Mitchell scored 14 points, Mark Vital grabbed 13 rebounds and the Bears won their 11th game in a row, 57-52 on Tuesday night at No. 22 Texas Tech, which hadn’t lost at home in nearly a year.
“This is just life in the Big 12, lose by five on your home floor to the No. 4 team in the country on a night where we just didn’t do a lot of things well enough to try to find a way to win the game,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said.
The Bears (12-1, 2-0 Big 12) made their last field goal with 3:06 left, but hit five free throws after Chris Clarke’s three-point play for Texas Tech with 29 seconds left cut the gap to 52-50.
Texas Tech (10-4, 1-1) had won 15 consecutive home games since a loss to Iowa State last Jan. 16, and is 58-6 at home in Beard’s four seasons. The Red Raiders had won their last 10 Big 12 games overall.
Freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey led the Red Raiders with 20 points, and Kyler Edwards had 10.
Jared Butler, Baylor’s leading scorer, had only five points – more than 12 below his season average. But he made his first basket on a layup with 3:48 left, and then added a jumper 42 seconds later for a 51-45 lead.
“The thing that I was most proud of, being in the first road Big 12 game, hostile arena against a very well-coached and very good team, we never lost our composure,” Drew said. “Some teams get rattled and throw it away and then now they score another quick bucket. I thought our guys did a great job on moving on to the next play.”
Baylor made the necessary free throws late, and basically sealed the game after a technical foul against the Red Raiders for reaching across and touching the ball before an inbound pass following Ramsey’s layup with eight seconds left.
“I feel like we had momentum at first but then they just kept coming back and getting tough buckets on us,” Edwards said. “Think that kind of derailed us and getting offensive rebounds.”
Texas Tech had an early 9-7 lead on a Ramsey layup. Baylor then scored the next eight points, including two baskets by Freddie Gillespie, and never trailed again.
“The reason we didn’t play our best tonight was Baylor,” Beard said.
BIG PICTURE:
Baylor: The Bears went into a hostile environment and took care of business, and improving to 4-0 against Top 25 opponents this season. Baylor focused in on their mismatches and never looked back. They used their size advantage for a 44-25 rebounding margin.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders saw their weakness exploited as the Bears controlled the paint. Texas Tech doesn’t really have a big man inside. Ramsey got his 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting and Davide Moretti struggled to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting – 0-for-6 on 3s.
STREAKING BEARS
Only No. 7 San Diego State (15) and No. 5 Auburn (13), who both play Wednesday, have longer active winning streaks than Baylor. The 11 in a row by the Bears matches the fifth-longest in program history.
TIP-INS
Gillespie finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. … Texas Tech has held seven of its 14 opponents this season under 60 points. … Baylor entered the game leading the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing only 58.9 points a game. …
UP NEXT
Baylor has another Top 25 matchup on the road, at No. 3 Kansas on Saturday.
Texas Tech plays three of its next four games on the road, the first coming Saturday at No. 17 West Virginia.
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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25
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