Brett Decker Jr. and Kayden Mingo scored 17 points each as Baylor dominated Northwestern State 87-65 on Monday in the teams’ season opener in Waco, Texas.
The Bears led by as many 24 points in the first half and by 18 at halftime but sleepwalked through the first 10 minutes of the second half as they struggled with their shooting, especially from beyond the arc. Baylor had more than enough to waltz to the finish line, however, never allowing the Demons to get closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
Highly touted freshman Dylan Mingo added 14 points for Baylor and Elijah Williams had 11. The Bears had a 49-35 edge in rebounding and a 17-9 advantage on the offensive glass.
Kai Simpson paced Northwestern State with 17 points while Nathan Ojukwu added 13 and Isaiah Vick scored 12.
The Bears roared out of the gate, scoring the game’s first seven points and forging a 14-4 lead after Decker’s 3-pointer at the 16:07 mark. Baylor expanded its advantage to 30-9 when Dylan Mingo rolled in a layup with 12:13 to play in the half and before the Demons swung back with an 8-0 run punctuated by back-to-back 3-pointers by Doyle Brown to pull within 13 points with 10:40 left.
Baylor pushed the margin to 41-17 via its own 11-0 run, with Isaac Celiscar bookending the surge with a jumper and then a tip-in layup, the latter at the 7:26 mark. Northwestern State closed half by scoring six of the final eight points — with Vick producing all six points — to draw within 50-32 at the break.
Decker led all scorers with 11 points over the first 20 minutes while Kayden Mingo had 10. Baylor outshot the Demons 60%-37.9% in the half. Simpson’s nine points before halftime paced Northwestern State.
Baylor rebuilt the margin to 21 points after Isaac Williams’ jumper with 17:12 to play. But the Demons later made another run, scoring eight straight points capped by Vick’s second-chance jumper in the middle of the second half to draw to within 63-48.
The Bears went more than four minutes without a field goal over that stretch, but jolted themselves back to life on a rousing lob dunk by Elijah Williams off an assist by Kayden Mingo with 8:24 remaining.