March 20, 2010
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NEW ORLEANS --Gerald Lee and Frank Hassell both scored 15 points, butLaceDarius Dunn scored 26 points and the third-seeded Bears outlasted No. 11 Old Dominion 76-68 on Saturday in the second round of the South Regional.
Baylor, ranked 19th nationally by AP squandered a 14-point first-half lead but went on a late 8-1 run to pull away. Now, the Bears (27-7) head back to their home state to play 10th-seeded Saint Mary's in Houston in the round of 16.
Baylor took a double-digit lead amid a barrage of early 3-pointers and alley-oopsfor a 38-28 halftime lead.
ODU ralled to start the second half with a 9-0 run to climb to within one, 38-37with 17:08 left on a Frank Hassell dunk.
ODU kept battling and tied the game at 45 with 13:22 left on on a trey from BenFinney. The Monarchs led by two, 49-47 on two free throws by Kent Bazemore.After 7-footer Josh Lomers tied the game on a follow and put the Bears up one, 52-51, Marsharee Neely put ODU back up 53-52 on a layup.
ODU's last lead of the game was on a three-point play by Gerald Lee to put the Monarchs up 58-56 with 6:29 left. Baylor tied the game on another Lomers layup at 58, then took the lead for good at 60-58 on a layup by Lacedarius Dunn with 5:24 left in the game.Baylor received a big lift from 7-footer Josh Lomers, who tied a career high with 14 points, 12 in the second half.
After a Darius James trey brought ODU back to with-in a point at 62-61 with 4:38 left, Lomers hit a layup. Dunn's 3-pointer made it 68-62, and a reverse layup by Tweety Carter put Baylor ahead by eight.
The Bears made their first four shots of the game--including 3-pointers by Dunn and Carter and an alley-oop from Carter to Dunn--to take a 10-1 lead. Bazemore answered with an alley-oop dunk of his own at the other end, but that did little to stem the tide. Dunn made a 3-pointer and sneaked behind the defense for another alley-oop from Carter for a 15-5 lead.
Four Monarchs scored in double figures. Besides Lee and Hassell with 15 each,Kent Bazemore scored 13 and Ben Finney added 10.
ODU outrebounded the Bears, 31-30 as Frank Hassell led with eight, followed by Finney with six and Keyon Carter with five.
Old Dominion, which edged No. 6 seed Notre Dame 51-50 in the first round, was trying to become the first team from the Colonial Athletic Association to reach the round of 16 since George Mason's Final Four run in 2006. The Bears would have none of it, scoring the most points of any Monarchs opponent all season.
ODU shot .434 (23-53) from the floor, while Baylot hit .519 (28-54) of its shots.Kent Bazemore led ODU with seven assists, followed by Ben Finney with four, whileFinney and Hassell each had three steals.
ODU senior Gerald Lee completed his career with 1,624 career points which rankhim 11th all-time at ODU. Lee was 22 points shy of Alex Loughton ('06) who ranks10th and one point better than Kenny Gattison ('86).He also played an ODU best 137 games, breaking the mark of 135 set last year by Jonathan Adams.
In playing 36 games, Gerald Lee, Frank Hassell, Kent Bazemore, Keyon Carter Darius James and Trian Iliadis now own the new school mark, breaking last year's35 games. Gerald Lee is the only Monarch to start all 36, breaking Darius Jamesmark of 35 last year.
The 27 wins this season is the second best in school history. The best was the2005 squad which won 28.
ODU has won more games than any Division I team in Virginia the past six yearswith a 146-60 mark (.708).