Kansas State Wildcats vs Baylor Bears Box Score on Mar 11, 2021

MaCio Teague racked up 24 points as No. 2 Baylor outlasted a Herculean-effort by ninth-seeded Kansas State to post a 74-68 win on Thursday afternoon in a quarterfinal game of the Big 12 Conference tournament in Kansas City, Mo.

The top-seeded Bears (22-1) will play fifth-seeded Oklahoma State, a winner over fourth-seeded West Virginia earlier Thursday, in one of the tournament's semifinals on Friday.

Baylor led by just two points at the half and trailed on three occasions in the opening three minutes of the second half before taking charge with a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Davion Mitchell. The bucket gave the Bears a 52-44 lead at the 13:19 mark.

From there, the Bears stretched their advantage to as many as 12 points before Kansas State made a late run to claw within 72-68 in the final seconds.

Baylor's three starting guards -- Teague, Mitchell (23 points), and Jared Butler (18) -- combined for 65 of the Bears' points in the win.

Mark Vital added a game-high 10 rebounds in the victory, which Baylor secured despite a season-high 21 turnovers.

Davion Bradford and Nijel Pack led the Wildcats with 18 points each with DaJuan Gordon adding 15 for Kansas State, which finished its season at 9-20.

Baylor dominated the Wildcats in the teams' pair of regular-season matchups, winning by 31 points in Manhattan and then by 48 in Waco in the rematch.

But Kansas State was more than up to the task on Thursday, coming into the game with wins in four of its past five contests and after dominating TCU in a 71-50 first-round victory on Wednesday.

The Bears led only 36-34 at halftime despite outshooting Kansas State 54.5 percent to 46.2 percent, outrebounding the Wildcats 15-11 and hitting 5 of 12 shots from beyond the arc. Butler paced Baylor with 11 points while Mitchell hit for 10 over the first 20 minutes of play.

Kansas State stayed close by forcing 13 Baylor turnovers and with Bradford pouring in 15 first-half points.

--Field Level Media