WACO, Texas - Sacramento State jumped out to a fast start, but a late Baylor first half run and huge second half led the Bears to a 110-88 victory over the Hornets on Tuesday evening at Foster Pavilion.
Sacramento State led for over 13 minutes of the first half, opening up an advantage as large as nine points (14-5). The Hornets buried each of their first four 3-point attempts, and finished the game half 7-of-17 from distance. Sacramento State held a 47-46 lead with under a minute to play in the first, but Baylor went on a 6-0 run in the final 37 seconds to go into halftime with a 52-47 lead.
The Bears extended that lead to 10 points (61-51) early in the second half, and the Hornets would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way. Baylor ran up its lead to 20 points for the first time after going on a 9-0 run to extend its advantage to 83-63 with nine minutes remaining.
Prophet Johnson finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, and
Mikey Williams had 21 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. The dynamic back court combined for 42 of the Hornets' 88 points on 17-of-19 shooting from the free throw line.
The loss dropped Sacramento State to 4-6 overall as the team was playing the second leg of a season-long seven game road trip. The Hornets were playing a Baylor squad (6-1) that is currently receiving votes in every top 25 poll, including Associated Press and ESPN. Tonight's matchup was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
The Bears, who were coming off a 10-point win over San Diego State, improved to 6-1 overall and 4-0 home. Baylor - winner of the 2021 NCAA national championship - also has a nine-point win over Washington and seven-point victory over Creighton this season.
The Hornets, who have played the most games in the Big Sky Conference, will now go 17 straight days without a game. The team does not play again until a Southern California trip to California Baptist (Dec. 20) and CSUN (Dec. 22). Those two games are also the last non-conference contests of the season.
Four Hornets scored in double figures, including
Jahni Summers' 12 points (4-6 3FG) and
Mark Lavrenov's 10 points and nine rebounds. Lavrenov, a true freshman, snagged seven of his nine boards on the offensive glass. Ten different Hornets scored as the team's 88 points were their second highest output of the season (and most against a Div. I team).
Shaqir O'Neal had six points, while
Taj Glover (5),
Arman Madi (4),
Romari Robinson (4),
Jayden Teat (3) and
Brandon Gardner (2) also cracked the scoring column.
Baylor shot 60 percent from the field (38-63) while the Hornets shot 38 percent (26-68). Nineteen of the Hornets' 30 rebounds came on the offensive glass and Sacramento State had 26 second chance points against a bigger Baylor front line. Baylor outscored the Hornets, 58-41, in the second half.
The Hornets do not play again until Saturday, Dec. 20, at California Baptist (5 p.m.). The Hornets and Lancers have played just twice in school history - the teams split two games in Riverside on back-to-back days during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
NOTABLES
• The Hornets were playing without injured forward
Jeremiah Cherry (15.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg) for the fourth straight game
• Sacramento State was making its first trip the state of Texas since 2015
• After playing 10 games during the first 29 days of the season, the Hornets will not play a game for the next 17 days
• The Hornets used the same starting lineup for the fourth straight game - Williams, Summers and Johnson at guard, O'Neal and Lavrenov at forward
