Baylor Wins Again in Ames 94-89

Lester Medford hit a three after Georges Niang flew past him to give Baylor a77-73 point lead with 3:43 left in the game. A Medford and-1 would stretch the lead out to 80-73 with 3:14 remaining. Monte Morris closed the game to 84-79 at 1:04 with a huge three, which Georges Niang followed up with a steal and score to make it a 3 point game with under a minute remaining.

The final minute of the game saw Baylor cling to a lead by making their free throws. Freshman guard Jake Lindsey and junior forward Ish Wainright each drained two clutch free throws with just under 50 seconds remaining. Junior guard Al Freeman hit 5 of his 6 free throw attempts to seal the game for the Bears.

Monte Morris, meanwhile, hit several clutch threes in a desperate attempt to claw back into the game. His heroics would be too little, too late.

The real stars of the game, however, came off of Baylor's bench. Sophomore forwards Johnathan Motley and Terry Maston displayed their size and skill against Iowa State's front line. The bigs scored 27 and 13, respectively. Their activity on the boards, particularly Motley's on the offensive glass, kept Baylor's offense going even when their teammates had a tough shooting start.

Senior forward Taurean Prince and Medford both finished in double-figures scoring with 18 and 16. Both made huge shots down the stretch during a 10-0 run late in the game.

On the other side, four of Iowa State's starting five scored in double-digits, and three -- Georges Niang, Abdel Nader, and Monte Morris -- scored 20+. Iowa State found success for much of the game in transition. They did an excellent job of turning Baylor over, running the floor, and finding the open man before Baylor's defense could get set.

On that note, Baylor's defense was intriguing in this game. Scott Drew played most of the game in zone, but threw in a bit of man defense in the second half to try to confuse the Cyclones. Drew's brilliance, however, came in the game's closing defense, which ESPN's broadcast identified as a triangle-and-2. This alignment allowed the Bears to play with zone principles while Lindsey drew the assignment of chasing Niang around the floor, denying him the ball at every turn. It was a bold, inspired move, and it worked out brilliantly.

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via espn.com