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ANALYSIS: A season-saving, gut check win!

Baylor junior forward Johnathan Motley scored 23 points in the 71-62 win over West Virginia Monday at the Ferrell Center.
Baylor junior forward Johnathan Motley scored 23 points in the 71-62 win over West Virginia Monday at the Ferrell Center. (USA Today)

Courage. Intestinal fortitude. Desire. Will.

That's exactly what No. 11 Baylor 71, No. 10 West Virginia 62 presented Monday evening in the regular season home finale at the Ferrell Center.

Among all of the wins that Baylor (24-6, 11-6) has earned this season -- and there's been 24 of them in 30 games -- I would put this as the most significant because of what faced this team. Michigan State and Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis were great and probably were precursors for what Baylor could do this season.

But the subplots were plenty. Consider what the Bears were facing. They learned shortly before tip off they weren't going to have point guard Manu Lecomte (ankle). Their organizer was out. They were going to have to go point guard by committee between Jake Lindsey, Al Freeman and King McClure. And you know what they say about having a position by committee...yeah...try 18 turnovers against 11 assists.

A loss virtually assured the Bears of the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 tournament. Their top seed in the NCAA tournament would be in jeopardy. They would have lost four of five going into the regular season finale Saturday at Texas.

And it looked that way when the Mountaineers (23-7, 11-6) erased an early Baylor 9-point lead and held a 49-41 advantage with 9:04 to play. This wasn't the way this was supposed to end for senior Ish Wainright, was it?

Not only No but heck No. What I have always said is that your best players need to be your best players. When Johnathan Motley (23 points, 8 rebounds) answered with an "And One" with 8:40 to play to cut it to 49-44, the momentum shifted.

The Bears were aggressive on defense. Motley's play ignited a game-deciding 16-2 run over the next 4:39. From there, the Bears kept the Mountaineers at arm's length.

This was a pretty heroic win because Baylor wasn't flashy or efficient on offense. The Bears looked clunky at times. For the most part, I thought their defense was pretty solid throughout the ballgame. Where they struggled from about the 12-minute mark of the first half to the 9-minute mark of the second half was from about 10-feet in toward the basket. The Mountaineers -- mainly Elijah Macon (11 points) -- were able to impose their will.

Once the Bears tightened that up between Motley and Jo Lual-Acuil, the Mountaineers couldn't make a living.

We haven't really seen this bench make much of an impact in games recently. But this team has the depth to where it can do that every so often. Even though Lindsey got the start, I still look at him as a backup. In the last 2:29 he scored five of his six points, the last three on a circus "And One.''

Then throw in reserve, that's right reserve Al Freeman with two of his three 3-pointers in the final five minutes that were daggers. The first at 4:09 closed that run and extended Baylor's lead to 57-51. The second at 2:47 proved the fatal blow at 62-53.

This was the Baylor team we had seen all the way through the first meeting with Kansas State in mid-January in Manhattan, KS. They battled. They were physical. They took their share of knock down drag outs and retaliated with their own.

So what this means for the finale is the following: No. 24 Iowa State (19-9, 11-5) plays host to Oklahoma State on Tuesday. Obviously, people are pulling for the Cowboys. if not, then we turn to Saturday. The Bears are at Texas. Iowa State travels to West Virginia. The Bears went 2-2 against the Mountaineers and Cyclones and split with each. West Virginia is 2-1 with ISU to play. West Virginia won at Iowa State last month.

Now if the Mountaineers win and the Bears win, you have three teams tied for second at 12-6. That gives West Virginia the No. 2 seed because it would be 3-1 with the sweep against ISU. Baylor may still end up with the No. 4 seed because the Bears were swept by Kansas and the Mountaineers and Iowa State split with the Big 12 champions.

First things first. Let Tuesday in Ames, IA take care of itself.

This is a win to feel really good about. This is the kind of win that can get a team out of the doldrums and reclaim that edge. Baylor sent its only senior out a winner (7 points, 8 rebounds). A solid crowd of 8,203 showed up and I would claim it was probably the best the Ferrell Center has been all year. They played a role in this.

Baylor has some time to get ready for Texas. And then then madness begins.

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