Sir’Jabari Rice hit for 21 points and Marcus Carr canned a crucial bucket to create some late breathing space as No. 10 Texas beat No. 11 Baylor 76-71 on Monday in a Big 12 Conference dustup in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (18-4, 7-2 Big 12) led for most of the game and owned a two-point lead at halftime. Texas was up by seven with 3:25 to play but Baylor chipped away, pulling to within a point on a three-point play by Keyonte George with 50 seconds remaining.
Carr then shrugged off a poor shooting night with a clutch 14-foot jumper with 27 seconds left to push Texas’ lead to three points. George missed on a rushed, 30-foot 3-pointer, and Rice sank two free throws with 15 seconds to play to cement the win.
Timmy Allen added 18 points and Tyrese Hunter had 13 for Texas in the win. Carr, the Longhorns’ leading scorer on the season, had just five points on 2-of-8 shooting. Texas has won three of its past four games.
LJ Cryer led Baylor (16-6, 5-4) with 19 points, with George adding 17, Jalen Bridges scoring 13 and Adam Flagler hitting for 11 points for the Bears, who had a six-game winning streak snapped.
The game was tied at 12 after a free throw by the Bears’ Caleb Lohner six minutes into the first half. Texas went in front and pushed its lead to 28-19 on a basket by Allen with 7:12 to play in the half.
Baylor roared back to within a point on Dale Bonner’s free throw at the 3:50 mark. The Longhorns pushed their lead back to five points before George’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in the half allowed the Bears to pull within 38-36 at the break.
Allen led all scorers with 12 points before halftime as Texas outshot Baylor 53.9 percent to 38.9 percent over the opening 20 minutes. Cryer had 10 points in the half for the Bears, who stayed in the game by hitting six of their 15 3-pointers.
Texas expanded its lead to nine points after a 3-pointer by Rice with 12:53 to play, but the Bears rallied to within 56-52 on Bridges’ layup with 9:24 remaining.
–Field Level Media
