WACO, Texas (AP) — Ja’Kobe Walter scored 26 points and made five of Baylor’s 19 3-pointers as the 10th-ranked Bears beat Mississippi Valley State 107-48 on Friday night in their final game in the Ferrell Center.
The Bears (10-2), coming off consecutive losses in NBA arenas to Michigan State and No. 21 Duke, scored the game’s first 20 points after tipping off for the last time in the campus arena they have called home since 1988. The 2021 national champions finished with a 401-169 record there.
Baylor’s next game will be in the $212 million Foster Pavilion, on Jan. 2 against Cornell.
The new building is part of a development along the Brazos River on the opposite side of Interstate 35 from Baylor’s football stadium. It is just over a mile from the Ferrell Center, which was built for about $12.5 million.
Langston Love and Jayden Nunn each added 15 points for the Bears, who shot 67.2% overall (41 of 61) from the field and 63.3% on 3s (19 of 30). Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua had 10 points.
Nunn was 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and Love made all three of his long-range shots. Nunn had three 3s and Walter two in the game-opening 20-0 run.
Reginald Reynolds scored 14 points for Mississippi Valley State (0-12). Rayquan Brown had 13 points.
BIG PICTURE
Mississippi Valley State: The Delta Devils have lost 14 games in a row overall. Their 12 losses this season, all on the road, are by an average margin of 35.5 points, and they lost 117-53 at the Ferrell Center in the 2022-23 season opener. They still another road game before playing at home Jan. 6 against Alabama State to open SWAC play.
Baylor: The Bears’ 19 3-pointers were their most ever in a game at the Ferrell Center, one more than the previous record, and one off the overall school record. … Baylor had 10 players that played at least 17 minutes (none more than 23). All of them scored and had at least one assist, and only one of them didn’t have a rebound.
SORE BACK
Baylor freshman Yves Missi sat out with back soreness, two days after taking a hard tumble in the loss against Duke. The 6-foot-10 forward did return in that game, in which he had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
UP NEXT
Mississippi Valley State: At San Francisco on Dec. 30.
Baylor: Welcomes Cornell to its new arena on Jan. 2.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
