• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Chery leads Baylor past Louisiana

Nov 18, 2013 - 1:53 AM Waco, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Kenny Chery scored 20 points while Cory Jefferson added 16 points with 10 rebounds as No. 23 Baylor defeated Louisiana, 87-68, on Sunday.

Brady Heslip scored 19 points off the bench for the Bears (3-0), who took their first lead with 9:43 left in the first half and never trailed again.

Rico Gathers hit two free throws and Chery buried a three to cap a 13-2 run and give the host team a 16-11 advantage.

The Ragin' Cajuns (2-2) trailed 33-22 at halftime and made things interesting with an 8-2 run out of the break to cut the deficit to five, but that is as close as they would come.

Elfrid Payton scored 20 points with nine rebounds and six assists for Louisiana, while Shawn Long netted 16 points with eight rebounds in the loss.

"I think he is the best inside guy out on the floor that was out there and I think Baylor has a couple of good ones," Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin said of Long. "He is a really talented young man and he got frustrated a little bit today."

Louisiana jumped out to a 9-3 lead after Payton and Steven Wronkowski hit back-to-back triples, but had trouble with the length of Baylor throughout the night.

Baylor limited Louisiana to just 34.8 percent shooting (23-of-66), in large part because the Bears held a 12-0 advantage in blocks.

"I think any time you can hold a well-coached team to 34 percent shooting, you're happy with that," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said.

Jefferson had two swats while Isaiah Austin blocked as many shots as he scored points, recording eight.

The 11-point halftime deficit held true for most of the see-saw second half, until Baylor ended the stanza on an 8-0 run to grab its largest lead of the game.

Game Notes

Louisiana will play Oakland University next Saturday ... Baylor will host Charleston Southern on Wednesday before heading to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.