Baylor
Liberty
Greenleaf Keys Bears' 87-51 Win Over Liberty
12/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2000
WACO, Texas - Sophomore guard Wendell Greenleaf scored a career-high 25 points in leading the Baylor men's basketball team to an 87-51 victory over Liberty on Thursday night at the Ferrell Center.
The win means the Bears remain perfect on the season at 7-0. The seven wins to open the season are the best for any Baylor team since the 1945-46 season, when Baylor opened the year 9-0. Baylor also holds on to its position as one of three schools in the nation to have both undefeated men's and women's teams this season. The Baylor women are 9-0 after Wednesday night's win. With the loss, Liberty falls to 5-4 on the year.
Greenleaf scored his 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-9 on 3-pointers. The five treys tied his career high. Three of the 3-pointers came in the first 10 minutes of the game as the Bears built an early ten-point lead. Liberty came back and cut the lead to four at the 7:57 mark of the first half, but the Bears responded with a 17-4 over the final eight minutes of the half and took a 42-25 lead into the half.
Liberty opened the second half with a 12-6 run of its own, cutting the lead to 11, but the Bears responded again. Over the next six minutes, Baylor ran off a 19-2 spurt capped by another Greenleaf 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 28 at 67-39. From there, the Bears steadily increased their advantage, with their final margin of 36 being Baylor's biggest lead of the night.
Senior DeMarcus Minor added 14 points for the Bears, giving him eight-straight games with double-figure scoring totals. Freshman Logan Kosmalski put down a career-high 13 points off the bench. Senior Terry Black led all players with 14 rebounds, his season high. Chris Caldwell led Liberty with 14 points, while Beau Wallace led the Flames with 6 rebounds.
Baylor shot 50 percent for the night, including 43.5 percent from beyond the arc (10-of-23). The Bears outscored the Flames 25-6 off turnovers and 32-18 in the paint for the evening.
The Bears return to action Saturday afternoon at North Texas, game time is set for 7:35 p.m.
