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Dunn's hot stretch carries Baylor over Texas Tech

Jan 11, 2009 - 1:19 AM WACO, Texas (Ticker) -- LaceDarius Dunn's second-half outburst showed just how dangerous Baylor is with its numerous scorers.

Dunn scored 11 of his 20 points during a second-half run as No. 23 Baylor opened Big 12 Conference play with a 73-61 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday.

Kevin Rogers had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Curtis Jerrells scored 13 for the Bears (13-2, 1-0 Big 12), who finished with five players in double figures.

The Red Raiders (10-6, 0-1) held a 44-42 lead with 12:40 remaining on Alan Voskuil's jumper, but Dunn then scored 11 of the game's next 12 points. The sophomore guard hit three 3-pointers during a 13-1 burst that put the Bears in control at 55-45 with 8:54 left.

Overall, Dunn shot 7-of-15 off the bench, including 5-of-12 on 3-pointers, in reaching 20 points for the fourth time this season.

"That is the one thing that is good about this team," Jerrells said. "We know that when one person gets hot we do a good job of trying to get him the ball. For a stretch, (Dunn) just got hot, so we just gave him the ball."

It was Baylor's seventh win in its last eight games, bouncing back from an 85-84 loss to South Carolina here on January 2.

Tweety Carter and Henry Dugat also scored in double figures for the Bears, netting 11 and 10 points, respectively.

On the season, Baylor has five players scoring in double figures, making it a difficult team to set up a defensive scheme against, according to Texas Tech coach Pat Knight.

"We were deciding before the game if we should stick on somebody or not, but the problem with them is they have three or four lethal guys," he said. "If you stay on him (Dunn), one of those other guys are going to get hot.

"That is why they are good; you take away something from them, you have to give up something else. It is not like you can take away their driving or their shooting because they all can do that."

Despite the plethora of scorers, the Bears were held in check early. They missed five of their first nine shots and committed two turnovers while the Red Raiders scored the game's first seven points.

"I thought Texas Tech did a really good job, especially at the beginning of the game jumping out to an early lead," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "They were ready to play from the tip and I felt that our upperclassman did a good job rallying us and making sure that we got back into the game plan.

"In the first half they did a great job keeping us off-balance, and in the second half we were able to get on the break a little bit more. Our offense was a bit more efficient as the second half wore on."

The Bears eventually got on track, going on a 16-2 run to turn a 14-9 deficit into a 25-16 advantage with 7:13 before halftime. The Red Raiders went 8:31 without a basket during that spurt, missing five straight shots and committing seven of their 15 turnovers in the first half.

"I thought they just played good solid man to man defense, but they didn't do anything different then what we expected. We have to execute better," Knight said.

Baylor went on to take a 33-29 lead at the half before Texas Tech went on a 9-0 run in the opening minutes after intermission, opening up a 41-39 edge with 14:22 left. Nick Okorie hit a 3-pointer and converted a layup during the spurt.

Voskuil scored 14 points and Okorie 13 for Texas Tech, which ended up with 23 turnovers.