WACO, Texas -- Brandon Davies’ 26 points and 17 rebounds were not enough as BYU men's basketball fell 79-64 to Baylor at the Ferrell Center on Friday night.
"I thought we were prepared for this game," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "Our game plan was good, practice was good and shootaround was good but then we get a couple misses in the game and gave up some turnovers, and Baylor took off. Things got out of hand - their length and athleticism showed through tonight."
Baylor’s 21-2 run at the end of the first half helped solidify the victory and improved its record to 8-3 on the season, while BYU falls to 8-4.
"When we're playing a lot of young and inexperienced guys I rely a lot on our older guys," Rose said. "Brandon played his heart out tonight and again had an amazing night but we need players around him. That's basically what it comes down to - he just needs help."
Davies added three assists, three steals and a block to his double-double. Tyler Haws was also in double digits with 13points while Matt Carlino and Nate Austin both contributed eight points for the Cougars. Baylor’s Pierre Jackson led his team with 16 points and all five of the Bear starters scored in double figures.
BYU started the game on a 9-2 run to grab the quick lead. Haws scored five of the nine BYU points on a three-point play and a jump shot and hit his third field goal at the 15:28 mark to put the Cougars up 11-5.
BYU didn’t turn the ball over until the 14:41 mark and took advantage of some Baylor miscues to score nine of its first 11 points in the half. At the 14:52 mark, Davies was awarded two foul shots on a flagrant foul call, which he sunk to put the Cougars up 13-6.
The Cougars grabbed their biggest lead of the night at 15-6 when Davies passed the ball off to Haws for the easy lay in.
Baylor answered with a 9-2 run heading into the 10-minute mark, but BYU held the lead.
Raul Delgado came in off the bench at the eight-minute mark to put BYU back up by 10 with its first 3-pointer of the game. However, Baylor sunk a three of its own to cut the score to 29-22.
Baylor then scored nine-straight points to grab its first lead of the game with 3:35 remaining in the half. Haws ended BYU’s scoring drought with 2:21 left to tie the game at 31, but Baylor took a nine-point run into the half to go up 40-31.
Austin started the second half on a high note for BYU with a tip in to cut the Baylor lead to seven but the Bears came back with a 3-point shot in transition and forced a BYU timeout by taking a 12-point lead two minutes in.
Davies scored the next eight points for BYU, but the Cougars couldn’t hold off Baylor’s offensive attack. At the 13:41 mark, the Bears extended their lead to 20 at 61-41.
Carlino earned his first bucket of the night with 13:20 left in the game and followed with another jumper to put the score at 63-45.
At the 10:19 mark, Baylor hit its ninth 3-point shot of the game to go up 68-45. After that shot, BYU went on a 9-0 run to cut the Bear lead to 14 at 68-54.
Baylor kept the pressure on BYU and extended its lead back to 21 with 5:55 remaining.
Davies cut the Bears' lead to 17 at the 1:46 mark with the second 3-point field goal of the game for the Cougars, but it wasn’t enough as BYU fell to Baylor 79-64.
BYU will play next at the Marriott Center on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. MST against Northern Arizona.