Texas survives Baylor’s comeback, earns 10th conference win

It was a tale of two halves Wednesday as the Longhorns eked out a 74-69 victory over in-state rival Baylor, and avoided their first three-game skid of the season. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

Javan Felix led the Longhorns with 21 points, all coming off threes, and Cameron Ridley finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. But it was a defensive play by Ridley that secured the win for Texas.

With Texas up 72-69 with 30 seconds to play, Ridley swatted a Kenny Chery, who led a monstrous Baylor comeback, layup attempt. Texas recovered, forcing Baylor to foul.

“The whole game he (Chery) was attacking the basket, putting his head down and shooting the ball,” Ridley said. “I could tell the way he was driving he was going to shoot.”

The 6-foot 9-inch Ridley increased his aggressiveness on both ends of the floor, closing off driving lanes and tallying a couple of blocked shots to go along with his seventh double-double of the season.

Baylor head coach Scott Drew left the game impressed with the sophomore center’s play, and even compared Ridley to a man who once donned the burnt orange.

“He does a great job getting position and scoring with angles,” Drew said. “He’s very similar to Dexter Pittman.”

Two losses that effectively ended the Longhorns’ dreams of capturing a Big 12 title seemed to be motivation enough for Texas to put together one of their most dominant first half performances of the season.

The Longhorns got off to a quick start against the scorching hot Bears, who entered Wednesday’s contest on a four-game win streak, thanks to pesky defense and Felix’s hot shooting from 3-point range.

Felix ended the first half with 15 points, going five for five from downtown. Conversely, Baylor ended the first half shooting a mere 25 percent from the field.

“We were executing, making shots, and playing defense,” Jonathan Holmes, who finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds, said. “Javan was making shots. The rest of us just rallied around that.”

An 18-3 run gave the Longhorns a 36-18 advantage with two minutes remaining in the first half. However, Baylor clawed their way back, going on a 9-2 run of their own to close out the half.

After Ridley’s layup beat the buzzer, the Longhorns took a 42-27 lead into the locker room.

Behind an aggressive Chery, who finished with a game-high 27 points, Baylor chipped away at Texas’ lead until the Bears were within one point with a minute to play.

“They came out the second half and went to isolations,” Texas head coach Rick Barnes said. “And they went at us and got us in foul trouble.

“It’s not supposed to be easy, and it wasn’t easy.”

But Baylor’s only lead remained their first two points of the game, and Texas escaped with their tenth conference win of the season.

The game comes after a two-game road trip, which resulted in big losses to Iowa State and Kansas, and puts Texas back in the win column.

“It think it’s a big game because of the way we played,” Barnes said. “We haven’t given ourselves much of a chance the last two games.”

Baylor falls to 6-9 in conference play, leaving their post-season destination in doubt.

With three conference games remaining, teams are making pushes to improve their resume to the NCAA tournament selection committee.

Texas looks to avenge their recent losses away from the Erwin Center as they visit Norman and face Oklahoma, Saturday.
[/s2If]
[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

[/s2If]