WACO, Texas — With Baylor needing a 3-pointer to tie and the clock about to expire, Isaiah Austin didn’t have time to consider that Brady Heslip had missed all six of his shots from beyond the arc.
Not that Austin would have cared. Hot or not, Heslip is the long-range guy for the Bears.
Heslip hit a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer in regulation, Kenny Chery used the extra time to finish off a triple-double and Baylor rallied to beat Kansas State 87-73 in two overtimes Saturday night, snapping a four-game home losing streak.
“We don’t care if he’s 0 for 6 or 0 for 9,” Austin, who had 18 points and a career-high nine blocks, said of the Big 12’s leading 3-point shooter. “We tell him to shoot the ball. That’s what he does. And he made that one.”
The Bears (16-9, 4-8 Big 12) trailed by 10 with 9 minutes left before rallying to end their longest home skid in nine years.
Baylor’s Taurean Prince banked in a tiebreaking 3-pointer in the second overtime, and had a three-point play on a dunk to put Baylor up by 11 with a minute remaining. Prince had seven of his 12 points in the second extra period.
Nino Williams had a career-high 20 points for the Wildcats (17-8, 7-5), who led by 10 points in both halves but ended up losing their fifth straight on the road after consecutive wins over ranked opponents, including an upset of No. 7 Kansas, also in overtime.
“We’ve been in position to win the last four road games,” Williams said. “I think last year around this time we were winning these games and I think this year we’re losing these games.”
Chery had the sixth triple-double in school history — and first in a conference game — with 20 points and career highs of 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Baylor’s last triple-double was by Ekpe Udoh on Jan. 6, 2010.
“My teammates have been pushing me really hard in practice and that kept me in shape,” said Chery, who played a season-high 44 minutes after being limited in recent games by turf toe. “I was probably a little tired at the end of that last overtime. But my teammates kept me on my feet.”
Marcus Foster, the hot Kansas State freshman playing 200 miles from his Texas home, had 18 points and 10 assists but missed a free throw late in regulation before Heslip’s tying shot. He also missed one with the game tied in the final minute of the first overtime.
“It definitely hurts me a little when I had two chances to put the game away,” said Foster. “I’ve just got to keep getting better. I can’t get down about this.”
Heslip’s swish from well beyond the arc for a 57-all tie came after a wild sequence of three missed shots before Austin came up with a loose ball and passed to Heslip, who let the ball go with the clock inside 2 seconds.
The Bears were 2 of 20 from 3-point range before Heslip’s tying shot. He ended up 1 of 8 from long range and scored seven points.
“You’ve just got to hope and pray it bounces to you,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “If it goes out of bounds, I call timeout and we tell them to foul. But it didn’t. You’ve got to give their kids credit for having the savvy to throw it out.”
Cory Jefferson had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Baylor before fouling out on a play that led to the tying free throw from Foster in the first overtime.
The Bears held for the last shot at 68-all after Foster missed the second of two free throws, but Chery missed a jumper.
Prince put Baylor ahead for good early in the second overtime when his 3-pointer from the right wing with the shot clock about to expire banked in. After Williams lost the ball near midcourt, Heslip drove for a layup and a five-point lead.
Prince later scored five points in an 8-0 run that put the game away. Chery had the other three.
Two of Austin’s blocks came at the start of the second half and sparked an 8-0 run to get Baylor within a point after the Bears scored a season-low 21 in the first half.
The Bears were down 10 again before Chery finished a 10-0 run with consecutive layups for a 51-all tie.

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Saturday

At Waco, Texas

Baylor 87, Kansas State 73
KANSAS ST. (17-8)
     Foster 6-18 3-5 18, Williams 9-17 2-3 20, Iwundu 0-2 0-0 0, Gipson 5-10 2-2 12, Spradling 3-11 1-1 8, Thomas 0-2 1-4 1, Lawrence 2-5 1-2 5, N. Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Schultz 0-1 1-2 1, Rohleder 0-0 0-0 0, D. Johnson 3-6 2-2 8. Totals 28-73 13-21 73.
BAYLOR (16-9)
     O’Neale 1-2 3-4 6, Chery 8-21 2-3 20, Heslip 3-10 0-1 7, Austin 7-12 3-4 18, Jefferson 6-12 9-13 21, Gathers 0-2 0-0 0, Franklin 0-3 2-2 2, Wainright 0-1 1-2 1, Prince 5-7 1-2 12. Totals 30-70 21-31 87.
     Halftime—Kansas St. 30-21. End of regulation—Tied 57. End of first overtime—Tied 68. Three-point goals—Kansas St. 4-18 (Foster 3-8, Spradling 1-7, N. Johnson 0-1, Lawrence 0-1, Schultz 0-1), Baylor 6-25 (Chery 2-6, O’Neale 1-2, Prince 1-2, Austin 1-2, Heslip 1-8, Jefferson 0-1, Wainright 0-1, Franklin 0-3). Fouled out—Gipson, Jefferson, D. Johnson. Rebounds—Kansas St. 40 (Williams 8), Baylor 54 (Jefferson 11). Assists—Kansas St. 25 (Foster 10), Baylor 22 (Chery 12). Total fouls—Kansas St. 24, Baylor 17. A—7,556.