WACO, Texas — It was ugly, it was physical, but Baylor will take wins however they come.
The top-ranked Bears held on to beat Oklahoma State 78-70 inside the Ferrell Center in Waco on Saturday, improving to 21-1 overall and 10-0 in the Big 12. That ties the program's best start in conference play (1948).
It's the most points Baylor has allowed at home this season and first time a Big 12 Conference team has scored 70 on the Bears this season.
In total, 51 fouls were called in the game, including two technical fouls on OSU coach Mike Boynton, who was ejected with nine seconds left after arguing a foul which fouled Cowboy guard Jonathan Laurent out. Laurent was the fourth Cowboy to foul out of the game, as OSU was called for 29 fouls on the court to go with Boynton's two technicals.
No Bears fouled out, but Freddie Gillespie, Jared Butler and Tristan Clark all logged four, as the Bears were called for 20 fouls Saturday.
But, Baylor was a mere 60.6% from the free throw line, including missing 13 of its first 25 and the front end of three one-and-one's.
All five BU starters scored in double figures with MaCio Teague scoring a game-high 24 points. It's the third time during conference play (vs. Texas, vs. TCU and vs. Oklahoma State) Teague has been the game's leading scorer, with two additional games (at Iowa State and vs. Oklahoma) when he led Baylor in scoring.
Gillespie tallied another double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds), his ninth this season and fourth in Big 12 play.
It's a quick turnaround for the Bears, though, as Baylor heads to Texas for an 8 p.m. Big Monday tip on ESPN.