No. 1 Baylor wins 18th in row 104-68 over Northwestern State

Updated Dec. 28, 2021 10:12 p.m. ET

Associated Press

WACO, Texas (AP) — James Akinjo scored a career-high 27 points and top-ranked Baylor extended the nation's longest winning streak to 18 in a row by beating Northwestern State 104-68 on Tuesday night.

Baylor (12-0) scored the game's first 13 points. Later in the first half, Akinjo started another 13-0 run with three consecutive 3-pointers in a span of 64 seconds — his only made 3s in the game.

Adam Flagler added 21 points with five 3s and had 11 assists for the Bears. Jeremy Sochan scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds in his first career start, and fellow freshman Kendall Brown had 12 points with nine rebounds.

Carvell Teasett scored a career-high 18 points on six 3s for Northwestern State (3-11), which has yet to defeat a Division I opponent this season.

Baylor scored more than 100 points for the first time this season and shot 50% from the field (39 of 78), even after missing its last 10 shots. The Bears also had a stretch in the first half when they missed 11 of 13 shots.

Akinjo played in his 78th college game, his 12th at Baylor since joining the team as a graduate transfer this year. He played 26 games at Arizona last season after beginning his college career with 40 games over two seasons at Georgetown.

BIG PICTURE

Northwestern State: The Demons struggled with Baylor’s size advantage in all aspects of the game. In addition to being outrebounded 49-33, they were dominated in the paint 42-20. Northwestern State did have some success shooting long 3-pointers and finished 11-for-25 (44%) from beyond the arc.

Baylor: The Bears were without leading scorer LJ Cryer for the second straight game, and Matthew Mayer was in COVID-19 protocol. But Baylor forced the tempo and outscored Northwestern State 37-13 in fast-break points. The Bears also finished with 25 assists on 39 made baskets.

BEAR STREAKS

Baylor’s 18-game overall winning streak matches the fourth-longest ever by a Big 12 team in the league’s 26-season history. Kansas has had winning streaks of 20 and 22 games, and Baylor holds the league record with 23 in a row in the 2019-20 season. ... The Bears have won 21 consecutive home games, and 33 of 34. They have also won 36 consecutive nonconference games since November 2019. Both of those winning streaks are with average margins of more than 22 points a game.

UP NEXT

Northwestern State: Play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Jan. 6 in the Southland Conference Tip-Off event at Katy, Texas.

Baylor: At No. 8 Iowa State on Saturday for its Big 12 opener.

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