The No. 9 Baylor Bears were a bit slow out of the gates in their debut as a top-10 team in 2013-14, but they found their rhythm and coasted in the second half to a 81-55 win over the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles on Monday.
Baylor vs. Oral Roberts final score: No. 9 Bears more than recover from slow start in 81-55 win
Baylor turned on the jets when it needed to: the last 30 minutes of the game.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Baylor (11-1), which was No. 25 in the Associated Press' preseason poll, broke into the top 10 for the first time this season when Monday's poll was released despite not playing a game last week. The Bears can thank the Villanova Wildcats' 78-62 loss to the No. 2 Syracuse Orange for dropping Villanova out of the top 10.
Oral Roberts (6-7) scored the first seven points of the game and led 11-10 with 11:32 in the first half, but the Bears’ 13-2 run over the next five minutes helped build a gap from which the Golden Eagles would not recover.
Cory Jefferson finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, one of four Baylor players in double figures. Rico Gathers had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench for the Bears.
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