Waco, TX - Baylor's LaceDarius Dunn scored 22 points off the bench to ignite the red-hot, 19th-ranked Bears on Monday night, as they defeated Portland State, 79-66.
Dunn hit 8-11 shots from the field, including 4-5 from three-point range, and 2-2 at the line. He also had six rebounds as Baylor improved to 11-1 with its fifth straight win. The Bears are 8-0 at home, and their only loss of the season was to nationally-ranked Wake Forest.
The Vikings were handed their worst loss of the season and saw their three-game winning streak come to an end, dropping to 10-4 overall. The Vikings are now 5-4 in road games.
PSU's three previous losses had been by just a combined 10 points.
Baylor was the Vikings second nationally-ranked opponent in a week. PSU defeated seventh-ranked Gonzaga last Tuesday.
Despite five early turnovers, the Vikings stayed with the Bears. Dominic Waters' long-range shooting made up for a two-point first half by Jeremiah Dominguez. Waters hit three three-pointers and had a total of 11 points off the bench by halftime.
A Waters' jumper had the Vikings within 24-22 at the 6:32 mark. But, the Bears went on a 16-2 run to push the lead to 40-24 with 2:06 left in the half. The Vikings closed the deficit to 43-29 by halftime.
PSU, perhaps a bit tired from playing three road games in a week, didn't have an answer for the Bears in the second half. A pair of early dunks helped Baylor's lead increase to 24 points at 55-31.
At one point, PSU was down by 26, but rallied back to within 12 on a short jumper by Jamie Jones at the 2:22 mark.
Waters had a team-high 18 points and five assists for the Vikings. Phil Nelson added 16 points and a season-high eight rebounds.
PSU shot only .426 from the field and .320 from three-point range. The Bears shot .509 from the field and .438 from three-point range.
Viking Coach Ken Bone pointed to a pair of big three-pointers by Dunn in Baylor's late first-half run as the Bears pulled away. “We knew he was a great shooter. We knew he could put it down from anywhere. But, to give him that much time to shoot, that is not the way we want to play.”
Dominguez, the reigning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, was shut down by Baylor. He made only 1-9 field goals in the game.
“They did a great job of switching everything, and every time they switched, it was hard for him to get a good shot off,” Bone said. “They continued to switch it and they had great length... it was just a tough night for Jeremiah.”
Dominguez was averaging 13.5 points per game prior to the Baylor contest, and had averaged 20 points in the last two Viking wins.
GAME NOTES: Jamie Jones had his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. He has three double-doubles in his three games in Texas... the game with Baylor was the third of five in row on the road and the fifth road game in a stretch of seven out of eight away from home... Portland State is 0-5 all-time against teams from the Big 12 Conference... PSU is now 1-1 against nationally-ranked teams this year, 1-8 under Ken Bone over the last four years... the Vikings return to Big Sky Conference play on Friday at Sacramento State in a 7 p.m. game. Then, on Sunday, PSU plays at Northern Arizona in a game televised at 1 p.m. PT on Comcast Sports Net.
