Isaiah Johnson poured in a season-high 26 points and Matas Vokietaitis’s dunk with 33 seconds left proved the deciding points as No. 7 Texas outlasted Baylor 75-72 on Sunday afternoon in San Antonio.
The Longhorns (4-0) led by three points after a back-and-forth first half that continued throughout the second. Elyjah Freeman’s three-point play with 3:14 to play put Texas up 70-68 before Kayden Mingo canned a pick-and-pop jumper on the ensuing possession to tie it at 70.
Johnson’s free throw with 1:12 left gave the Longhorns a one-point lead before Dylan Mingo’s two from the charity stripe with 49 seconds remaining pushed Baylor back on top.
Vokietaitis then hammered home his clutch dunk off an assist by Austin Goosby to make it 73-72 Texas. Kayden Mingo missed a jumper, and the Bears grabbed the offensive rebound and had a chance to win the game but Isaac Celiscar missed a 3-pointer from the corner.
Freeman grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws with 5.8 seconds left to put Texas up by three points.
Vokietaitis finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Freeman had 10 points for the Longhorns in a game that featured eight ties and 14 lead changes.
Kayden Mingo led Baylor (3-1) with a season high 23 points, with Celiscar hitting for 10.
The Bears ran to the front in the early minutes, building a 21-14 lead when Celiscar canned a 3-pointer at the 11:40 mark of the first half. Texas culled its deficit to a point on two occasions, the latter on a driving layup by Marcus Spears Jr. with 5:56 to play in the half and then jumped on top at 31-30 after another layup by Spears a minute later.
Vokietaitis’ tip in with 4:05 left in the half stoked the Longhorns’ advantage to three points and capped a 10-2 Texas run. Two free throws by Mayo Soyoyo with 2:39 remaining leapfrogged Baylor to a 34-33 lead before Texas finished the half with a 6-2 run punctuated by three free throws by Johnson to carry a 39-36 advantage to the break.
Johnson paced all scorers with 15 point before halftime while Vokietaitis had 11 for Texas over the first 20 minutes. Mingo led Baylor with seven points at the half.
–Field Level Media
