WACO, Texas – Reggie Holmes lost his shooting stroke, but not his confidence. Shrugging off a subpar performance in a loss at Robert Morris, the Morgan State star scored 23 points, however it was Baylor who posted a 79-63 victory over the Bears on Wednesday night.
The night belonged to Ekpe Udoh who led Baylor with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 10 blocks. The performance marked the fifth triple double in school history and Baylor improved to 12-1 for the season.
Tweety Carter and Quincy Acie scored 16 points apiece and LaceDarius Dunn added 14 points for the host Bears.
"Baylor is a good team and a good program,” said Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman. ”Their frontline is huge. It is like an NBA frontline. (Ekpe Udoh) will be playing 82 games (in the NBA) at some point, he is an outstanding player. He is very dominant and made his presence felt.”
"The Big 12 is probably one of the top two leagues in the country right now and Baylor will get their share of wins."
Baylor hit 2-of-3 three-pointers to help the build a 47-40 lead in the first 3 minutes of the second half.
Morgan State (8-7, 1-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) then pulled to 49-42 on a 3-pointer by Troy Smith, but Baylor answered in a big way.
Baylor exploded out on a 19-3 run to open up a 20 point lead at 68-48 with 10 minutes left to play. Baylor fans were treated to an alley-oop dunk by Udoh, a 3-pointer by Carter and a thunderous slam dunk by Acie as the Bears pulled away. Morgan State just didn't have enough fire power to close the gap tonight.
“They started extending the defense and put longer guys on the side and shut down (Reggie Holmes) offensive looks,” Bozeman explained. “Rebounding is what really hurts you because (Baylor) hits the glass hard. Those guys just go to the glass and we've never been outrebounded like that. I thought the rebounding and the transition defense really hurt us."
Baylor outrebounded the Bears by a 43-33 margin and shot 47.7 percent from the field, while Morgan State finished 23-of-66 (34.8%) from the field.
“In the first half we made a good run for it,” said Bozeman. “Holmes carried us in the 1st half and we did a good job by shooting 50 percent from the field.”
Holmes, one of the nation's top scorers, shot 7-of-16 from the floor and scored 12 of Morgan State's first 15 points of the game to help keep the Bears close.
Baylor held a 23-16 lead midway through the first half, but Morgan State put together a 14-4 run and a Troy Smith 3-pointer tied the ballgame at 27-27 with 5 minutes left in the first half.
Morgan State trailed 39-36 at halftime.
“Now it's time to get ready for conference play. I'm sure we will not be seeing anybody this size in our conference. I will not be coming back to Waco any time soon (laughs), they were nice and first class, but I really don't enjoy getting smacked around like that.”
The Bears will hit the road to play Beltway rival and MEAC foe Howard on Saturday, Jan. 9th. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
