Jo Lual-Acuil and Manu Lecomte each had 17 points and Baylor beat Texas 69-60 on Saturday to avoid an 0-3 start in Big 12 Conference play.
The Bears (11-4, 1-2 Big 12) led for good after Lecomte made a 3-pointer just more than 3 minutes into the second half to break a 44-all tie. Lecomte, who made only 4 of 22 shots the first two Big 12 games, leaned back with both feet on the ground while watching the shot go through the rim.
Jase Febres led Texas (10-5, 1-2) with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. But all of the freshman's scoring came before halftime, and he missed all five shots after that. Mohamed Bamba had 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Longhorns were within 63-60 when the 6-foot-11 Bamba made a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 5:03 left. They didn't score again, and all of Baylor's points after that came on six free throws.
BIG PICTURE
Texas: Sophomore guard Andrew Jones, averaging 13.5 points, missed the game because of illness. ... The Longhorns missed their last nine shots and 14 of 16, and shot a season-low 34 percent (24 of 70) from the field. Texas was coming off an overtime win at Iowa State after not winning a Big 12 road game all of last season.
Baylor: The Bears haven't started 0-3 in the Big 12 since 2005-06, when they didn't even play a non-conference schedule. It has been four years since Baylor lost three games in a row at any point.
UP NEXT
Texas returns home Wednesday night to play No. 16 TCU, which swept the Longhorns last year.
Baylor plays Tuesday night at No. 6 West Virginia, almost exactly a year after going there 15-0 and losing by 21 points the day after reaching No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for the only time in school history.
___
More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
