Basketball may be the longest prep sport played as far as how long the season lasts, but it was a great start for both Baylor squads as they swept Tyner on Tuesday evening at their Jimmy Duke Arena/Austin Clark Court.
All four of these teams will win a bunch of games between now and March, but it was the Baylor girls who prevailed by a 56-35 margin while the Red Raider guys headed home with a 60-51 victory over the Tyner guys.
BAYLOR BOYS 60, TYNER 51: This is the second year for Quinn McDowell as Baylor's head coach and he was reasonably pleased with what he saw.
"I'm never completely pleased, but I thought we got some good stops when we needed to and I liked how we responded to Tyner's runs," he said while relaxing in his office following the game.
"Our main three goals are to be tough, be competitive and to stay connected with each other. It's always interesting to see what happens the first time under the lights when we're playing with referees and have fans in the stands, but it's all a process.
"We have a bunch of new faces this fall and they will continue to get better, but it's always nice to start the season with a win against another really good team," he added.
Tyner coach E'Jay Ward knows that his Rams don't have the size they've had in recent years and that showed in the rebounding department, but he liked what he saw and thought that it was a great season-opening game for his team.
"That was fun," he said matter of factly just outside the Tyner dressing room before addressing his team following the game.
"I think we have some toughness and fight within us, so I thought we played pretty well for the most part. We were at a disadvantage as far as size was concerned, but this is a new bunch and we learn a lot about ourselves in games like this. We're still trying to figure out our roles, but games like this always help us and that's why we play teams like Baylor," he nodded.
Karolis Anuskevicius, a Baylor newcomer from Lithuania, gave his team the early lead by sinking the second of two free throws at the start before Kohl Ward sank a 3 to put the Rams ahead 3-1 in the opening minute.
Mantas Paldauskas sank a pair of 3s and Jake Neal added a third as Baylor had a 10-6 lead midway through the opening stanza. The Rams then responded with their best run of the game as they scored 12 of the next 14 points for an 18-12 lead when the first stanza ended.
A 7-0 Baylor run put the Red Raiders up by a point with 5:17 before the break. A jumper by Ward gave Tyner its last lead and the game was tied twice, the last time at 24-24 on a layup by Tyner's Jordan Felder, but a 7-0 run by Baylor in the final two minutes put the home team up 31-24 at the break.
Four different Baylor players hit 3s to start the second half as that seven-point lead stretched to 43-29 following a shot from the key by Ezra Sixto with 4:49 showing.
The Rams then had another strong run where they scored 12 of the next 14 points to make it 45-41 following a 3 by Ward with 1:59 showing, but Baylor got a layup from Sixto for a six-point lead with one quarter remaining.
William Barker and Sixto sank back-to-back 3s to start the final stanza for a 12-point Baylor lead and it never got any closer than eight points as Baylor was able to protect the ball with the advantage at the end.
Paldauskas scored 20 points to lead three Baylor players in double figures while Neal and Sixto followed with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Ward was tops for Tyner with 18 points while Felder followed with 14.
Baylor had an unofficial 15-6 rebounding advantage in the first half and finished with 29 to Tyner's 13. Paldauskas grabbed seven and Taheim Elohem five for Baylor while D'Marquese Howard was tops for Tyner with four.
SUMMARY
TYNER 18 6 17 10 -- 51
BAYLOR 12 19 16 13 -- 60
TYNER (51) – Jordan Felder 14, Lewis, Howard 4, Stallion 5, Shackleford 5, Christopher, Ja. Felder 5, Buchanan, Kohl Ward 18.
BAYLOR (60) – Mantas Paldauskas 20, Jake Neal 16, Cantrell, Barker 3, Ezra Sixto 12, Elohem 5, Copeland, D. Neal, Born, Simpson, Anuskevicius 4.
3-POINT GOALS: Tyner 8 (Jo. Felder 2, Stallion, Shackleford, Ja. Felder, Ward 3); Baylor 11 (Paldauskas 3, J. Neal 3, Barker, Sixto 2, Elohem, Anuskevicius).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com) Baylor Sweeps Tyner In Basketball Openers - Chattanoogan.com
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