Baylor reaches Garden

TULSA, Okla. — Baylor knew Southern California would keep coming

Unlike Providence and SMU, the Bears had answers.

Johnathan Motley had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Manu Lecomte scored all 12 of his points in the final 5 minutes, and Baylor defeated USC 82-78 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 11th-seeded Trojans had rallied from second-half deficits to win their first two NCAA Tournament games, but Lecomte was the spark that held the Trojans at bay. The point guard from Belgium didn’t score until a four-point play that gave the Bears a 69-67 lead with 4:40 remaining. It started his run of eight points in 45 seconds, and third-seeded Baylor never trailed again.

“I just had to pick it up,” Lecomte said. “I was struggling a little bit in the first half and I just had to pick it up. My teammates and my coaches did a great job. They kept believing in me, they kept me in the game, they trusted me with the ball in my hands, and I just had to go out there and make plays.”

Terry Maston scored 19 points and King McClure added 17 and for the Bears (27-7), who advanced to play seventh-seeded South Carolina in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden.

The Bears won despite Motley’s foul trouble. He fouled out with 1:39 remaining and the game still in doubt.

“I thought if I could be out there, we had a good chance to win,” Motley said. “And they kept telling me, ‘ We got you, we got it, we’re going to finish this game,’ and they did.”

USC coach Andy Enfield said Baylor’s depth was the difference.

“They went small with Motley out of the game and they relied on other people and they stepped up,” he said. “Their point guard stepped up and scored down the stretch and Maston had a big game. When your leading scorer goes out, it’s an opportunity for other players sometimes to score the ball, and that’s what they did.”