WACO, Texas (AP) - Davion Mitchell took the inbound pass for No. 2 Baylor at the end of the first half, quickly worked his way down the court and stopped just short of the 3-point line on the right wing and got fouled, just as he expected.
Mitchell made all three of his free throws with less than a second remaining, then made two 3-pointers early in the second half as the Bears started stretching their lead on way to their 13th win in a row, 68-55 over Iowa State on Wednesday night.
“I kind of knew he was going to foul me because I was moving so fast,” said Mitchell, who finished with 17 points and six assists. “And I knew he was going to be behind me. He was thinking I was going to get a layup, so I knew if I stopped he was going to run right into me.”
And Cyclones freshman Tre Jackson did just that.
“Our first 20 minutes were really good, we competed,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. “Last play of the first half … I told our guys let’s move on, learn from it, we’ll move forward. The second half, man, we just didn’t compete.”
The free throws, which came after Mitchell took an inbound pass with four seconds remaining, gave Baylor (14-1, 4-0 Big 12) a 30-25 halftime lead. After the Bears made only 1-of-11 3-pointers in the first half, Mitchell hit from long range in the first minute of the second half. Another less than two minutes later made it 38-25.
“In the first half, we weren’t in our groove but our defense kept us there,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “In the second half, we were able to have the offense come around and get some separation. A team like Iowa State who leads the conference in scoring, you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re in a one or two-possession game because they can score quick.”
Rasir Bolton and Prentiss Nixon both had nine points for Iowa State (8-8, 1-3), which entered the game averaging 78.4 points a game.
Jared Butler had 19 points for the Bears, whose only loss came against Washington in Alaska the first week of the season. They had road wins last week against at No. 23 Texas Tech and No. 6 Kansas, that win at Allen Fieldhouse being their first ever there.
Freddie Gillespie had 14 points and 11 rebounds, his sixth double-double this season for Baylor. Mark Vital had 11 points.
Mitchell had a go-ahead layup with 4:02 left in the first half after Iowa State’s last lead, and then grabbed a defensive rebound and passed to Butler for a 3-pointer.
“That’s the great thing,” Drew said, “everybody contributes.”
BIG PICTURE
Iowa State: The Cyclones have always struggled in Waco, losing seven in a row and 15 of the 17 trips there. Nixon got all of his points in a span of just over three minutes in the second half. The Cyclones never got closer than 11 after Mitchell’s first 3 in the second half.
Baylor: The Bears have held five consecutive high major opponents to their season lows. Iowa State was only two above its previous low of 53.
HOLDING DOWN HALIBURTON
Iowa State guard Tyrese Haliburton finished 2-of-12 shooting and had only six points, 10 below his season average. He still had eight rebounds and nine assists.
“You can only hope to limit him. You know he’s going to do a good positive things,” Drew said. “The key is he doesn’t have those triple-double nights against you. … We just tried to make everything as contested as possible.”
ONLY 4-0
Baylor is the only team that got through the first four Big 12 games without a loss. The Bears’ overall winning streak is the second-longest in the country behind San Diego State’s 17 in a row. Auburn was 15-0 before losing Wednesday night.
“We have a group of guys that learn from experiences and are humble enough to take coaching and apply it in the game and realize each game is important,” Butler said.
UP NEXT
Iowa State plays another game against a Top 25 team in Texas, at No. 23 Texas Tech on Saturday.
Baylor plays three of its next four games on the road, starting Saturday at Oklahoma State and a stretch that ends with their Jan. 29 game at Iowa State.
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