WACO, Texas – Tarleton fought until the final buzzer on Tuesday night, but ultimately fell short to No. 12 ranked Baylor, 80-57, at the Ferrell Center.
In a game that had nine different lead changes, the Texans couldn't maintain the lead they needed to secure the win.
Shakur Daniel energized the team early, picking up a steal that led to the first basket of the game. Daniel played in all 40 minutes of the game and led the team in points (13), rebounds (8), assists (3) and steals (3).
Tiger Booker also helped keep the Texans' tempo high with 11 points, two assists and two steals.
The first half of the game, the Texans battled back and forth with the Bears leading to nine lead changes. From the huge fastbreak dunk by
Javontae Hopkins to the six straight points from
KiAndre Gaddy with under two minutes left in the half, Tarleton looked as though they might take the Bears down to the wire. Tarleton began the second half down by nine points and quickly reduced the Baylor lead down to three after just three and a half minutes thanks to scoring efforts from Daniel and Hopkins. It was the closest Tarleton would get to tying the game from that point on.
Baylor spent the next 13 minutes building multiple scoring runs, ultimately outscoring Tarleton 14-31 in that timespan. Despite valiant efforts from
Tiger Booker, who finished with 11 points and two assists and steals, and
Lue Williams (five points, three rebounds), the Texans found themselves in too great a deficit to recover. An injury to the hand of
Freddy Hicks in the first half cut his playing time short and finishing with six points and two rebounds.
Hopkins finished with seven points, three rebounds and two high-flying blocks. Gaddy scored eight and grabbed three boards. Tarleton forwards
Rod Brown and
Garry Clark picked up four and three points respectively. Brown also contributed two steals to the Texan stat line.
The Texans will travel to Orlando, Florida, to face UCF on Sunday, Dec 11th, in the second of three-straight road games. Tip-off against the Knights is set for 11 a.m. CT.
