Dec. 14, 2011

Box Score/ Photo Gallery /Post-Game Press Conference

By Stephen Hawkins
Associated Press

WACO, Texas - Garrius Holloman already had an idea what to expect when Bethune-Cookman played at No. 6 Baylor.

The Wildcats had been there before.

"We knew coming in that we were going to be undersized. I played here last year and I saw they were 6-11, 6-10, 6-9 across the board," the senior forward said. "We've just got to come in and try to bang them. It's always a good experience to come in and play a high-powered team."

Quincy Acy had four of Baylor's 10 dunks, and Pierre Jackson had a team-high 12 points to go with consecutive assists on early slams that put the Bears ahead to stay in a 69-42 victory Wednesday night.

That was closer than last year's game, when the Wildcats (3-7) lost by 44 points.

"I don't think you lose confidence. We try to mix in some games that we feel like are winnable games," coach Gravelle Craig said. "Every team don't get to experience playing a top 10 team. So it was just a good experience all around. You get guarantee games, make some money, help the school. But you give the kids the opportunity to experience playing at a high level."

Holloman had 13 points and Anthony Breeze 12 for Bethune-Cookman, the defending MEAC regular season champion and an NIT team last season.

Holloman's 3-pointer 5 minutes into the game put the Wildcats up 10-9. Deuce Bello tied the game with a free throw a minute later to start the 10-0 run, and the consecutive Jackson-assisted dunks came right after that.

That spurt came right after Jackson and four others took over for the starting five.

"Pierre, when he comes into the game, everybody just expects him to be very good from the standpoint he's showed us he can take care of the ball, he can hit the open guy, he can defend, he can knock down the 3," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "When he comes in the game, he really gives us a great spurt and kind of go from that first couple of minutes of the game to now all of a sudden the game speeds up a little bit just because of how fast he is and how much he pushes the ball."

Jackson had a steal then a bounce pass to Bello for a dunk, and turned another Bethune-Cookman turnover right after that into a pass to Anthony Jones for another slam. That was part of an early 10-0 run that put the Bears (8-0) in front for good on a night when Baylor at halftime honored Robert Griffin III, the school's first Heisman Trophy winner.

All 10 Bears who played scored, half of them getting at least eight points.

Acy was the only other Baylor player in double figures with 10 points. The 6-foot-7 senior forward became the 25th player in school history with 1,000 points, the seventh since Drew became coach, with a free throw in the closing minutes.

Griffin was greeted at halftime with the Superman theme and chants of "One more year! One more year!"

Fans screamed "RG3! RG3!" when highlights of the quarterback were shown, including Saturday night's presentation of him becoming Baylor's first Heisman winner. Griffin had a huge smile when he came out carrying the trophy before raising it over his head.

"The Heisman Trophy. How'd it go?," Craig said. "I was just curious."

Soon after the halftime ceremony, Acy had a two-handed slam when he reacted with a loud scream to put the Bears up 39-18. Right after that, he had a block when he swatted away a shot at the other end.

The Bears, who have won 25 consecutive non-conference home games the past five seasons, had a 42-16 scoring advantage in the paint. They shot 56 percent (28 of 50) from the field, including 14 of 22 (64 percent) after halftime.

"Bethune-Cookman is a tough team to play from the standpoint that they are well coached and really do a good job in limiting the possessions and shortening the game," Drew said. That is why they have only been beaten by more than 10 points one time, and why they had a chance to beat Central Florida at their place the other night."

The Wildcats continue play in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic Saturday against St. Mary's at 10 p.m. EST (7 PST). Audiocast will be available on www.big1380.com

NOTES: B-CU's 42 points were a season low, but were one more than what Northwestern managed against the Bears two weeks ago ... Bethune-Cookman has been outrebounded the past five games ... The bench recorded more rebounds (11) than the starters (10)... Holloman has led the team in scoring 4 times and in rebounding 6 times in 10 games this season...Javoris Bryant saw his first action of the season, registering two rebounds and three assists in eight minutes ... Media selected the Vince Carter's Highlight of the Game Award as Breeze's dunk over Jones and the Kelvin Mayner Allstate Good Hands Award to Holloman for a feed to Marc Mack for an easy bucket.

Dan Ryan contributed to this report