Acy, Baylor Win Close Battle with La Salle
Waco (Sports Network) - Quincy Acy scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead No. 17 Baylor to a 74-64 win over La Salle.
Perry Jones III added 12 points and 11 boards and the Bears improved to 2-0 to open the season.
Aaric Murray scored 17 points to lead La Salle (1-1).
Neither team had a double-digit lead in the game until Jones' dunk with 56 seconds remaining gave Baylor a 70-60 advantage. A.J. Walton had a layup and Acy threw down a dunk in the closing moments to keep the game out of reach.
Acy's first four points came during an 8-2 Baylor run to open the game. La Salle scored eight of the next nine points to take the lead and set the tone for what would be a close game until the end.
Baylor went ahead 32-24 on an Anthony Jones three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining in the first half. He had five of his 14 points during a 7-0 run.
La Salle, though, trimmed the deficit to three points with a 5-0 run to end the half and headed to the locker room down, 32-29.
Anthony Jones scored the first six Baylor points to open the second half after La Salle had taken a two-point lead. The Bears built a nine-point lead on Acy's dunk around the 16-minute mark, and La Salle was never able to get closer than two points the rest of the way.
The Explorers' last two-point deficit came when Sam Mills hit a three with 7 1/2 minutes to play, but Baylor responded with six straight points to build its lead back to eight on an Acy dunk just before the five-minute mark.
Acy had his fifth career double-double, while Perry Jones tallied his first.
It was Baylor's seventh straight win at home in the Ferrell Center. The Bears took apart Grambling State in their season opener last Friday, winning 87-52.
La Salle was coming off an 11-point win at home in its season-opener against Columbia last Friday.
Game Notes
Baylor beat La Salle for the first time in four meetings...The Bears have started each of the last five seasons with a 2-0 record...La Salle is heading to Cancun, Mexico, to begin a tournament on Thursday.
