Keyonte George recorded 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists to help No. 12 Baylor dispatch Tarleton State 80-57 in nonconference play on Tuesday night at Waco, Texas.
Langston Love added a career-high 20 points in his first career start for Baylor (7-2). Dale Bonner added 12 and three steals.
Shakur Daniel recorded 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals for Tarleton State (5-4). Tiger Booker added 11 points for the Texans.
Baylor played without its top two scorers. L.J. Cryer, who averages 16.5 points, sat out with back soreness, while Adam Flagler (16.1) missed the game with an illness.
George scored 18 of his points in the second half.
The Bears shot 46.4 percent from the field and made 7 of 20 from 3-point range. Baylor held a 41-23 rebound edge.
Tarleton State made 41.3 percent of its shots and knocked down 3 of 11 3-point attempts.
The Texans opened the second half with an 8-2 run, moving within 41-38 on a jumper by Javontae Hopkins with 16:47 remaining.
Love scored the final five points of an 8-0 surge to boost Baylor’s lead to 11 with 15:25 to play.
Tarleton State pulled within 51-43 on a 3-pointer by Garry Clark with 13:30 left. The Bears answered with seven points in a row to increase their lead to 15 with 11:18 remaining.
A driving layup by George elevated Baylor’s lead to 69-50 with 3:49 left. Just 41 seconds later, George buried a 3-pointer to push the Bears’ advantage to 20 for the first time at 72-52.
George converted a four-point play with 33.7 seconds left to increase the margin to 23 and cap his strong second half.
Love scored 13 first-half points to help the Bears hold a 39-30 halftime advantage.
Tarleton State led 18-16 after a basket by Booker with 7:44 left in the half.
Booker drained a 3-pointer to tie it at 21 with 6:38 left before Love converted a three-point play to start a 12-3 run for Baylor.
Josh Ojianwuna hit a jumper to end the spurt and give the Bears a 33-24 lead with 2:40 remaining.
Love later converted a three-point play with 0.3 seconds left for the nine-point lead at the break.
–Field Level Media
