Hot-shooting Bears melt the nets in sizzling rout of Sam Houston

On a "Foster After Dark" promotional night, Baylor made sure to keep the scoreboard illuminated.

Jayden Nunn paced seven Baylor players in double figures with 19 points, and the 12th-ranked Bears melted Sam Houston, 104-67, with their sizzling shooting in the home opener Tuesday night at the Foster Pavilion.

Following the win, some of the Baylor players tossed mini-basketballs into the stands as a gift to some of the fans.

Their accuracy during the game was far better.

Baylor (2-1) shot 58.6% from the floor for the night, and swished in 14 of their 32 shots from 3-point land (43.8%). If this was a glimpse of the potential of these Bears, the future figures to be brighter than those high-powered LED lights in the rafters.

"I think this team, so far, we've liked setting records," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "And after the first game (against Gonzaga), we said no more of those records. Tonight, seven players in double figures, first time since 2013. And 30 assists, I thought the guys were really unselfish. We're a much better shooting team than our first two games' statistics showed. I don't know if we'll shoot 44% (from 3) all year, but we're a 40% shooting team and we have a lot of good shooters."

Nunn made his first five shots from the floor, and finished with 19 points on 6-of-9 overall from the floor and 5-of-8 on 3-pointers. But this was a case where everyone got in on the party. Both Norchad Omier, the transfer power forward from Miami, and VJ Edgecombe, the five-star recruit from the Bahamas, tallied double-doubles. Omier went for 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Edgecombe had 13 points, 10 boards, seven assists, three steals and a blocked shot to sufficiently stuff the box score.

Duke transfer Jeremy Roach had 12 points and eight assists, starting big man Josh Ojianwuna scored 11 points, Cal transfer Jalen Celestine hit for 10 points, and freshman point guard Robert Wright picked up his third double-figure scoring game in three outings with 10 points and six assists off the bench.

As Drew noted, it was Baylor's first game to put seven players in double-figure scoring since 2013.

Yeah, that'll do.

"It was a lot of fun, just seeing everybody get in," Nunn said. "I just thank God for this opportunity, just to get play again and play in the Foster. This is my last first game in the Foster. I just had energy going forth with that. Seeing everybody scoring, we had seven players in double figures, it was fun. I love my teammates."

Last year, with Yves Missi on the receiving end, Baylor produced a lot of alley-oop highlights. In this game, Edgecombe, Omier and Ojianwuna all found themselves on the fun end of lobs for dunks, and Edgecombe put on a show with a couple of his slams, including a tip jam on a second-half offensive rebound.

So, is Waco the new Lob City?

"I only played with one other lob threat in my life that was a guard, but they both jump crazy. It was Shaeden Sharpe (of the Portland Trail Blazers)," Nunn said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing playing with guys like that."

Drew said that the fans should enjoy watching Edgecombe all season.

"I don't know, I saw Yves had 17 and 10 (for the New Orleans Pelicans) the other night, and he's always good for a couple SportsCenter dunks. You miss that in practice," Drew said. "But the great thing is VJ is right there to pick it up, and I'm pretty sure he'll get on SportsCenter tonight.

"What you love about VJ is again, you look across the stat line, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Almost a triple-double. I don't know if Baylor's ever had a freshman have a triple-double."

When Nunn was told that he should have thrown his first lob pass to Edgecombe even higher, Edgecombe laughed and said, "How high do you want me to go?"

The Bears got whatever they wanted offensively from the outset. Baylor hit 9 of its first 11 shots, a sizzling 82%, and it didn't matter if they were putting up those shots from the paint or the perimeter. That helped Baylor bounce out to a 24-12 lead following a bucket from Wright in transition.

All seven players who hit the floor for Baylor in the first half also cracked the scorebook. The Bears had their shooting strokes going, hitting 6 of 14 from 3-point range before the halftime break.

The lead widened to as much as 18 points at 39-21 following a transition trey from Roach.

What followed was Sam Houston's most effective stretch of the game. That's because Lamar Wilkerson caught fire. And because those flames were being triggered from beyond the arc, that allowed the Bearkats to catch up in a hurry. Sam Houston trimmed BU's lead to 46-35 on Wilkerson's fifth 3-pointer of the game.

Might want to get a hand up on that dude.

"With us, we knew they won conference last year, championship mentality," Drew said. "You can't let them back in the game. And really proud that the guys that when they made a run and got it down to 12, 11, we were able to extend it again. And I thought finishing the half the way that we did was important as well."

Indeed, no worries for Baylor, as the Bears closed the half on an 8-2 run, including a high-flying alley-oop from Nunn to Edgecombe and a so-dirty-it-needed-a-warning-label dribble drive and scoop from Wright at the first-half buzzer. That gave the Bears a 54-37 edge at the break.

Omier scored on a post-up move and drew a foul just seconds into the second half, and Baylor kept the pedal slammed to the floor. The Bears pushed the lead over 30 nine minutes into the second half when Nunn bottomed out a trey, and they just cruised to the finish from there.

By the end, Drew was able to clear the bench, and everyone was able to get a bucket except for freshman big man Marino Dubravcic.

"They practice really hard," Drew said, of the players who got in at the end of the game. "And when they get a chance to play, you want to see them have success. And it was great seeing a couple guys getting their first baskets in a Baylor uniform. We've got one more, Marino, he was close on a couple. But we've got to get him (a basket) at some point."

Wilkerson topped the Bearkats with 19 points while Josiah Hammons had 14 and former Kansas State guard Dorian Finister hit for 13.

Sam Houston may not be Gonzaga or Arkansas, but the Bearkats are no slouch, either, as a 21-game winner last year and the reigning Conference USA champions. So, this performance by Baylor showed at least a glimpse of just how dominant these Bears can be when they're engaged defensively, they're sharing the ball (30 assists) and they're really clicking.

"I feel like we showed it in the Arkansas game, too," Edgecombe said. "We're just staying ready, taking every game day by day, that's all it is. Seeing that the team can play the game, share the ball, defensively and offensively we were connected. So, yeah, it was good, but we want to continue getting better, for sure. We ain't as good as we're going to be."

Baylor will be back on the court when it hosts Tarleton State at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Sports editor