NEW ORLEANS -- Welcome to the Sweet 16, Baylor.Once a program smeared in corruption, the Bears are headed to the South Regional semifinals for the first time in school history after outlasting No. 11 Old Dominion, 76-68, during the NCAA tournament second round Saturday at the New Orleans Arena. But getting there was far from easy.
"I thought it was two teams fighting their guts out. This is March Madness," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team heads to Houston where it will take on St. Mary's in the Sweet 16 round. "This is the kind of basketball you expect in the NCAA tournament and (Old Dominion) deserve a lot of credit."
The Monarchs mounted a spirited second-half comeback and looked as though they were poised for their second upset of the tournament after stunning No. 6 Notre Dame in the opening round. ODU had trailed Baylor by as many as 14 points in the first half and went into halftime down 38-28.
Old Dominion, however, started the second half strong with a 9-0 run that was helped by five straight Baylor turnovers.The two teams traded leads 10 times in the second half and ODU led by as many as two points on a couple occasions as forwards Ben Finney and Frank Hassell got hot in transition.
Baylor star guards Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn became briefly mistake prone with turnovers and bad shots as ODU made it's comeback.
But Baylor received a huge boost from the most unlikely source, senior center Josh Lomers, who became its only offensive source for a critical stint late in the second half. His role is normally to use his big 7-foot frame to set screens for Baylor's scorers, but Lomers scored six of the Bears' eight points during a stretch after ODU had claimed a 58-56 lead with 6:29 to play.
Lomers scored on a putback and then went hard inside on two straight plays, one resulting in a three-point output to help pull the Bears back ahead 65-58. Baylor would not trail again. Lomers scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and finished shooting 6 of 7 from the field, and also added eight rebounds and four steals in just 24 minutes.
"I think today he just came out with else on his mind," said Dunn, who finished with a game-high 26 points while committing a game-high six turnovers. "He just did a great job, getting all the offensive rebounds and the putback but not only that but finishing with the fouls when all the pushing was going on."
The Bears now move on to the South Regional in their backyard in Houston where St. Mary's awaits in the Sweet 16 round.
GAME BALL GOES TO
Without question were it not for Baylor center Josh Lomers big contribution in the second, we are talking about another major up in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Lomers was huge in the second half with inside baskets and putbacks while the rest of the Bears went cold from the field as ODU rallied. The Bears usually don't look for a lot of scoring from Lomers but they needed every one of his 14 points before he fouled out with 1:05 left to play.
HEART GOES OUT TO
Old Dominion forward Frank Hassell played a great game inside in the face of Baylor's 2-3 zone, which is designed to give interior players fits. He finished with 15 points on 6 of 14 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and three steals.
KEY ELEMENT
Baylor outscored ODU 36-26 in the paint.
WHERE TO FROM HERE
Baylor, which won its first NCAA tournament game in 60 years on Thursday, is now headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
WHO'S GOT NEXT?
The Bears are headed to the Sweet 16 round in Houston where they will take on St. Mary's.
SOUNDBITE
"This win means a lot. But I can't celebrate like I want to because we've still got work to do. But I'm going to enjoy this win."
-- Baylor senior guard Tweety Carter on what it means to advance to Sweet 16 for first time.
