Andre Johnson 
BAYLOR PREVAILS --- Arizona State guard Maurice Odum looks to pass against Baylor'S Isaac Williams during the second half of Saturday's Big 12 Conference game at Foster Pavilion. The Bears upended the visiting Sun Devils, 73-68. (Chris Jones-Imagn Images)
WACO, Texas — After his team’s second-half comeback was all but complete, Baylor coach Scott Drew emerged from the postgame midcourt huddle, reached for the nearest microphone, then addressed what was a raucous Foster Pavillion crowd.
“These guys are still fighting and so are you, Drew said as his voice rang throughout the loudspeakers. “Give it up for these guys.”
Before an announced crowd of 7,044, the Bears shot an impressive 57 percent from the field for the game, coupled with erasing a 10-point first-half deficit en route to a 73-68 grind-it-out win over Arizona State.
Clearly, it was a tale of two halves for a Baylor squad whose bench was virtually nonexistent in its latest outing, having manufactured just six points on Saturday. In snapping their four-game winless streak, though, the Bears (14-13, 4-10 in the Big 12) witnessed four starters score in double figures while limiting the Sun Devils to 10-of-24 shooting (41.7 percent) over the game’s final 20 minutes.
Fifth-year senior Obi Agbim led the charge for Baylor, which produced a key 11-2 run to regain the lead for the first time since the 5:46 mark of the first half.
Agbim scored 13 of his 16 points after intermission, including a three-point basket from the top of the key that put the Bears in front for good, 60-59, with 4:58 remaining.
After draining another trey with 1:08 remaining to extend Baylor’s lead to 71-67, Agbim drove the lane for an uncontested layup with 22 seconds remaining to help the Bears ease out to final margin, then broke free for a rebound off of Baylor big man Isaac Williams’ missed free throw and ran out the clock to end the game.
“The first half was a little quiet,” Agbim, a former University of Wyoming standout, said. “But I kind of knew the shots would come. I’m as happy as I’ve been all year right now.”
Saturday’s win was the Bears’ first since a February 4 home win versus Colorado.
By game’s end, Drew and his coaching staff were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief, this after the struggling Bears had a snapped four-game skid for the second time this season.
“The way we’ve been playing, (Foster Pavillion) could have been half full, no energy,” Drew said. “But I’m grateful for the fans that have stuck with us this year. We wanted to give them things to be excited for.”
Much of the first half was a tightly-contested affair, a stretch that was comprised of five ties and eight lead changes.
Although the Bears shot 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from the field while limiting Arizona State to 46.9 percent shooting (15-of-32), the Sun Devils produced the game’s biggest lead when a two-handed dunk by Anthony Johnson made it 40-30 with 13 seconds left.
Baylor’s Cameron Carr answered with a midrange jumper as time expired to end the opening half as Arizona State took a 40-32 into the locker room.
In avoiding a season-worst five game losing streak, Baylor played with a renewed sense of spunk in the second half, this for a team that entered Saturday’s game 0-12 on the season when trailing at intermission.
“I thought the second half, we played really well,” said Drew, who improved to 7-0 all time against Arizona State. “And the crowd deserves the sixth, seventh, or eighth man…whatever it is.”
Agbim and Tounde Yessoufou led the way with 16 points apiece, Williams finished with 14 and a game-high five assists, and Carr registered 13 points and four assists for Baylor.
For Arizona State (14-3, 5-9 in Big 12 play), which entered Saturday’s contest riding high off a 72-67 upset of 14th-ranked Texas Tech earlier in the week, the Sun Devils witnessed their two-game undefeated streak come to halt.
Johnson led the way with a game-high 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and three assists off the bench, Maurice Odum managed 12 points and three assists, and big man Massamba Diop added 10 points along with a game-best 10 rebounds. Reserve Allen Mukeba also finished with 10 points in 17-plus minutes for the Sun Devils, whose Texas road trip continues Tuesday at TCU.
Next up for Baylor: arguably the Bears’ toughest outing of the season Tuesday when they welcome No. 4 Arizona to Foster Pavillion for a nationally-televised game Drew anticipates another massive turnout from the Bears faithful.
“We will do all we can (to pull the upset),” Drew said. “When they bring the energy they brought tonight, that will make it a lot easier. And the great thing is the fans will get to see the greats in college basketball.”
Andre Johnson is the award-winning Founder/Publisher & Editor In Chief of Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Journalism and a former reporter of sports for the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Johnson primarily covers the NBA, NFL, and college football. To reach Johnson, call him at 901-690-6587 or send email to makingheadlinenews@gmail.com. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.
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