WACO, Texas (AP) — Langston Love matched his career high with 20 points, RayJ Dennis scored 16 points with eight assists and 20th-ranked Baylor won its home opener 96-70 over NAIA team John Brown on Thursday.
Jayden Nunn added 15 points for the Bears (2-0), who played the midday game before mostly elementary school students only about 37 hours after finishing their season-opening win over Auburn in South Dakota. They got back to Waco at about 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Drew Miller had 19 points with five 3-pointers to lead John Brown. Malachi Reeves added 17 points while making all seven of his field goal attempts.
Dennis, the MAC Player of the Year at Toledo last season, also had six steals and was key in two big runs after halftime. He had consecutive layups to start a 10-0 run, then in a later 13-0 spurt scored six points in a 37-second span with a jumper and consecutive steals he turned into fastbreak dunks.
John Brown was still within 52-43 with 15 1/2 minutes left before Baylor pulled away.
BIG PICTURE
The Bears were mostly sluggish after the quick turnaround against a scrappy team playing with nothing to lose; not even the game since John Brown counted it as an exhibition. Baylor will get credited with a victory on its overall record. The Bears shot 56% from the field (41 of 73), but that included 10 dunks and 66 points in the paint.
Jason Beschta, in his 10th season as John Brown's coach, was a graduate assistant at Baylor during coach Scott Drew's first season in 2003-04. The Golden Eagles won their first two games.
UP NEXT
John Brown plays Friday at Evangel University in Missouri.
Baylor plays the second of three consecutive home games Sunday against Gardner-Webb.
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