KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cory Jefferson scored 20 points, Isaiah Austin added 18 and seventh-seeded Baylor held on to beat pesky TCU 76-68 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament.
Royce O’Neale added 14 points and 12 boards for the Bears (22-10), who advanced to play No. 2 seed Oklahoma in Thursday’s quarterfinals with their eighth win in their last nine games.
No. 10 seed TCU (9-22) trailed by as many as 17 in the second half, but behind 19 points from Karviar Shepherd, closed to within 69-63 with 2:32 left to play.
The Bears went back to Austin and the 7-footer scored while getting fouled. He made the free throw to restore a 72-63 cushion.
Shepherd answered by making one of two free throws for the Horned Frogs, but Austin scored at the other end with just over a minute remaining to wrap up the victory.