A.J. Walton’s free throws lift No. 24 Baylor over No. 6 Texas 80-77 in OT
By Jim Vertuno, APSaturday, January 30, 2010
No. 24 Baylor beats No. 6 Texas 80-77 in OT
AUSTIN, Texas — Freshman guard A.J. Walton, a 47 percent free-throw shooter, made three of four foul shots in the final 17 seconds of overtime and No. 24 Baylor beat No. 6 Texas 80-77 on Saturday.
Baylor led 77-76 before Walton made the second of two free throws. Texas’ Justin Mason made one of two before Walton got to the line again with 10 seconds left and calmly hit both.
Texas had one last chance to tie it but Avery Bradley’s 3-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Baylor (16-4, 3-3 Big 12) got its first regular-season win over Texas (18-3, 4-2) since 1998. Tweety Carter led the Bears with 27 points.
Texas rallied from 14 points down early in the second half. Damion James had 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for the Longhorns, but fouled out in the final minute of overtime.
Walton finished with 14 points behind 6-of-7 shooting on free throws. The Bears also scored 27 points off 18 turnovers.
Texas has lost three of four since reaching No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history.
The Longhorns could have used Walton’s nerves at the line. One of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, Texas went 19 of 31 against the Bears.
One of those misses, by the Longhorns’ best shooter, J’Covan Brown (94 percent), would have given Texas a three-point lead with 16 seconds left in regulation.
Given that opportunity to tie it with a basket, Baylor sent the game into overtime when Ekpe Udoh shot an airball on a 3-pointer but Texas left Anthony Jones all alone underneath to snag the ball and drop in an uncontested layup with 0.3 seconds left.
Udoh, 0 for 11 from the field to that point, then made Baylor’s first three baskets in overtime. He hit a soft hook over Dexter Pittman and converted an easy layup when he drove the lane through a group of Texas defenders.
Brown cut the lead with a 3-pointer, then turned the ball over, leading to Udoh’s dunk.
Two free throws by Walton pushed the Baylor lead to 71-67. Udoh fouled out with 1:12 left and James got Texas to 75-73 with two free throws and a dunk after he stole the ball at midcourt from Carter.
Texas had won 24 in a row over Baylor before the Bears beat the Longhorns in the Big 12 tournament last season. For the Bears, Saturday’s win was just the seventh in their last 51 conference road games.
