Another OT thriller in Waco!

Since Elliot and I had propelled Baylor to four wins in the four games we have attended, we felt compelled to head back to Waco tonight to see if we could help them get a fifth.  We felt confident, since they had beaten Oklahoma State in Stillwater, and tonight OSU was playing without their top scorer, the suspended Marcus not-so-Smart.  Even though it was an 8:00 tipoff, and even though I have to be at work at 7 tomorrow, and even though Elliot is 14 and needs his sleep, we decided the Bears needed us in Waco.

Bruiser gets some extra help cheering with these student bears.

So we ate a quick dinner and hit the road.  We didn't have tickets, and figured we'd just pick some up when we got there.  While we were on our way, Mark texted that his friend Bart had offered him some extras.  We were certainly pleased to hear that Mark had once again wrangled some free tickets for us, but when we got to our seats, we were even more pleased that we were on the second row, directly across from the Baylor bench!  Wow, thanks Bart!  I could get spoiled watching games from that vantage point!

We got to sit with Mark and Regina.  I hope we didn't embarrass them too much.

Baylor started out looking pretty good.  They were hitting 3 pointers, and jumped out to a 12-6 lead.  But OSU went on a run, took the lead, and kept it most of the rest of the game.  Baylor was down by 5 at the half, then trailed by as much as 10 early in the second half.  But they chipped away at OSU's lead, tying the games a few times and trading leads in the final minutes.

I'm always surprised at how many coaches they have.  I think it's about a 1:1 coach-player ratio.

When OSU missed a 3 pointer and knocked the ball out of bounds with 2 seconds left, it looked like Baylor had the game in the bag. All they had to do was inbound the ball, and hold on to it to run out the clock.  But, no, Baylor can't keep things simple, can they?  They botched the inbound pass, and some OSU joker who never makes 3 pointers grabbed it and made a 3 at the buzzer.  Overtime, for the second time in two games.

This was taken by Baylor photographer Matthew Minard, who was sitting a few feet to my left.
I couldn't get a good action pic with my iPhone.

Thankfully, Baylor scored first in OT and lead the whole time, winning by 6.  Now they are on a 3 game winning streak, and have 5 games left in Big 12 play, plus the Big 12 tournament.  Win out, and they would have a winning record in the Big 12.  I'm not giving up on the Bears' chances to play in the NCAA tournament.  I just hope they can find a way to win the next on the road without Elliot and me.

It was fun visiting with the always amiable Judge Starr.
If I heard him correctly, he may have encouraged Elliot to take a sick day from school tomorrow. . . . Surely not . . . .