KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No. 2 seeded Baylor Men's Basketball opened Big 12 Tournament play against the No. 7 seed Oklahoma in Kansas City on Thursday evening.
The Sooners opened the game on a 7-0 run.
Baylor tied the game for the first time with under three minutes remaining in the first half. The Bears won the turnover battle (11-1) in the first 20 minutes which kept them in the game.
The Bears took their first lead off a Dale Bonner three (first of the night) which put Baylor up 28-25 with under two minutes to play in the first half.
At the break it was 33-27 as the Bears ended the half on a 5-0 run.
The Sooners came out of the locker room hot. After Baylor added a bucket to start, the Sooners went on a 5-0 run. By the time Scott Drew called a timeout with 15:37 remaining, OU had a 40-37 lead with 3-4 shooting from three.
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With 10:51 remaining, Kendall Brown was called for a charge and went down limping holding his leg. After a quick visit to the locker room, he came back out on the bench.
As he left, the Bears trailed 52-46. His departure re-energized the Bears. They went on a 6-0 run to get things within three.
The Bears trailed by five with just under four minutes to play. At that point, shooting just 2-18 from three and a poor 35 percent from the floor.
The momentum shifted just a few seconds later. James Akinjo stole an inbound pass and went to the hoop himself, bringing Baylor within 1, 61-60.
The Bears weren't able to close that gap. They lost by a final of 72-67.
The epic upset sent the Bears packing before their tournament could even get started.