RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — NBA lottery prospect V.J. Edgecombe had just four points at halftime of Baylor's first-round NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi State.
That didn't concern Bears coach Scott Drew.
The athletic Edgecombe responded with a big second half and finished with 16 points, including two clutch free throws down the stretch, to help the ninth-seeded Bears hold off the eighth-seeded Bulldogs 75-72 on Friday.
“Because he’s so highly rated on the draft boards, people just assume that he's going to score,” Drew said. “V.J. doesn’t have to score to impact a game. He is an all-around player. He gets comparisons to Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, and the thing that those guys did is their athleticism and their ability to assist, defend. It affects the game. So if he’s scoring or not, he’s helping us.”
Edgecombe also had five rebounds, a block and a steal in his first NCAA Tournament game.
Robert Wright scored 19 points, Langston Love added 15 and Norchad Omier had a strong game inside with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bears (20-14), who led by 11 points in the second half but had to hold off the Bulldogs in the final seconds — and even tenths of seconds. Baylor advanced to face Duke, the top seed in the East Region, in the second round on Sunday.
Josh Hubbard scored 26 points to lead Mississippi State (21-13), which was seeking its first March Madness victory since 2008.
The Bears led 60-49 with 8:10 remaining after a free throw by Omier.
But the Bulldogs stormed back and cut the lead to one with 29 seconds left when KeShawn Murphy scored in the lane on a baby hook. Edgecombe was fouled with 9.3 seconds left and the Big 12 freshman of the year calmly stepped to the line and made both.
“Playing in the Big 12, you just have a lot of close games, and coming in here, we know that in March a lot of stuff happens,” Omier said. “V.J. hit both free throws, and we call it a game.”
Well, not quite.
The Bulldogs still had a chance to tie after Baylor elected not to foul, but Claudell Harris Jr airballed a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left. Omier was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and the game was seemingly over. But more time was put on the clock and Omier missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The Bulldogs grabbed the rebound with 0.2 seconds left and called timeout.
Hubbard's 3-point heave at the buzzer was no good, although it may not have counted.
Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said Harris' 3 came off a new play the Bulldogs had put in, and that Hubbard was an option.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever run it exactly for this type of scenario where we had enough time to get one look and then a second look,” Jans said. “I thought we’re going to get a shot. But unfortunately, it didn’t go in.”
Takeaways
Baylor: The Bears entered the tournament having lost six of their last 10 games, but survived this time. It was Drew's 21st NCAA Tournament victory.
Mississippi State: This is the third time in as many seasons that Jans led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament. Before his arrival, the program had reached March Madness just once since 2010.
Up next
Baylor guard Jeremy Roach will face his former team. Roach played four seasons for Duke and helped lead them to a Final Four three years ago.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
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