Tounde Yessoufou scored a career-high 27 points as Baylor defeated Sacramento State 110-88 in Waco, Texas on Tuesday night.
Yessoufou, the five-star freshman who entered the night second on the team in scoring, added six rebounds and four steals in his 28 minutes.
Six Bears reached double figures as Baylor (6-1) dominated in points in the paint 60-26.
Cameron Carr had 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Michael Rataj (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Dan Skillings Jr. (12 points, 14 rebounds) each collected double-doubles.
Isaac Williams (11) and Obi Agbim (10) also reached double figures for the Bears.
Mikey Williams and Prophet Johnson paced Sacramento State (4-6) with 21 points apiece. Jahni Summers pitched in 12 and Mark Lavrenov had 10 for the Hornets, who have lost four of five while being been blown out in each of their highest-profile contests. The Hornets were previously dominated in Power 5 matchups with Cal (91-67) and UCLA (79-48).
After carrying a 52-47 lead into the break, the Bears took control early in the second half. They outscored the Hornets 13-7 over the first four-and-a-half minutes with Yessoufou scoring seven during the run.
Baylor’s lead ballooned to 83-63 with 9:09 to go when Yessoufou converted his fourth steal of the game into a layup.
The Bears broke 100 on the first of two Carr free throws with 3:58 left, going up 101-74 on his second make.
A 9-0 run over 1:34 gave the Hornets a surprising 14-5 advantage, forcing a Baylor timeout before the first media timeout. Jahni Summers drilled a 3-pointer, Johnson hit two and Shaqir O’Neill added a 3-pointer to make it 14-5.
Baylor closed to within 20-18 at the 12:15 mark as Yessoufou capped a 5-0 run with a steal and a layup.
The Bears took the lead at 37-36 on Yessoufou’s layup with 4:18 left, their first lead since holding a 3-2 edge in the opening moments.
The teams traded baskets until six straight points to end the half provided Baylor its biggest lead to that point at 52-47. Skillings and Williams hit layups, then Yessoufou collected an offensive rebound and hit his putback at the buzzer.
Yessoufou led Baylor with 13 first-half points. Williams paced all scorers with 18 as the Hornets made 7 of 17 3-pointers (41%) in the half.
–Field Level Media
