WACO, Texas (AP) — LJ Cryer scored 20 points for the second game in a row, freshman Kendall Brown had 19 and ninth-ranked Baylor tied a school record with 21 steals in a 92-47 victory over Central Arkansas on Wednesday night.
James Akinjo, the senior transfer from Arizona, had his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 assists for Baylor. Matthew Mayer had 12 points despite going 0 for 6 on 3-pointers, and made a team-high five steals. Freshman forward Jeremy Sochan grabbed 13 rebounds.
The defending national champion Bears extended their home winning streak to a record 16 in a row.
Eddy Kayouland had 14 points for Central Arkansas (0-3), while Vincent Reeves and Darious Hall each had 10. Hall, who also grabbed 10 rebounds, made a long 3-pointer at the end of the first half.
Baylor scored 24 points off the 29 overall turnovers by Central Arkansas, which was picked to finish last in the 12-team ASUN Conference it joined last summer.
The first two baskets in the game were for the home Bears after turnovers by the visiting Bears in the first 90 seconds.
Brown had a steal and breakaway layup for a 13-4 lead just over five minutes into the game. Cryer had a steal and a second-chance jumper after a missed dunk by Brown to wrap up a 13-0 run that stretched the lead to 32-9.
BIG PICTURE
Central Arkansas: The Bears had 17 turnovers by halftime that led to 17 points for Baylor. Central Arkansas had only 17 points until Hall's 60-foot shot he took at the buzzer — the shot clock buzzer that went off with three seconds left. That long 3 made it 43-20. ... Central Arkansas is 0-4 against Baylor, with all the losses by at least 37 points. UCA's only lead in the series was 89 seconds into the first meeting on Nov. 10, 2017.
Baylor: The Bears also had 21 steals against Iowa State on Dec. 5, 1990. ... Baylor’s 16-game winning streak inside the Ferrell Center, which opened in 1988, is part of a stretch of 27 wins in 28 games at home during which the only loss was by three points to Kansas. ... Cryer had his first 20-point game two days earlier in an 89-60 win over defending Southland Conference champion Nicholls State.
UP NEXT
Central Arkansas: Plays home opener Saturday against Oral Roberts.
Baylor: Hosts Stanford on Saturday to wrap up a season-opening four-game homestand over nine days.
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
