Baylor sinks Spartans for Atlantis title
PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS » James Akinjo held the MVP trophy as he danced on the court in a crowd of his new Baylor teammates. Around him bounced talented freshmen and multiple guys thriving in larger roles.
The sixth-ranked Bears have a different look from last year’s run to the national championship, but the results seem familiar — down to Scott Drew’s club celebrating another titleclinching victory.
Akinjo scored 15 points and Baylor beat Michigan State 75-58 on Friday for the Battle 4 Atlantis championship, using a balanced lineup to earn yet another lopsided win to start the season.
“There’s no great NBA team with one player,” said Drew, his voice hoarse after three games in three days. “To win a championship, you’ve got to have a team, you’ve got to have a bench. We’ve had a rotation and then the big thing as coaches when you get new players, they start to trust each other.”
Look around the roster and there are plenty of examples. Akinjo went through Georgetown and Arizona before finding his way to Waco. There is a fivestar freshman and McDonald’s All-American in Kendall Brown, and another talented rookie forward in Jeremy Sochan.
Among the returnees, L.J. Cryer has gone from averaging 3.4 points last year to 15.8 entering Friday and forward Matthew Mayer is seeing a larger starting role after being a top sub.
It has been the right mix for Drew after losing four starters, including Davion Mitchell as the No. 9 overall NBA draft pick.
The Bears (7-0) looked dominant as they took control early in the second half, throwing some full-court defensive looks at the Spartans (5-2) and capitalizing on their mistakes.
By the end, Baylor had turned a 38-36 halftime lead into a romp, with four double-figure scorers and three others with eight points.
“We know how we want to play out there,” said Adam Flagler, who scored 11 points. “So once we were able to assert ourselves, we knew we could get things going.”
Gabe Brown scored 13 points for the Spartans, who shot just 37% and missed all seven of their 3-pointers after halftime.
The Bears used an 8-0 run to stretch out to a double-digit lead, ending when Akinjo corralled a thrownaway inbounds pass against pressure by Tyson Walker and buried a 3-pointer to make it 55-42 with 13:57 left.
Baylor never let Michigan State within single digits again, improving to 6-0 all-time at Atlantis going back to its 2016 championship run.
“I was really impressed, as I was with UConn,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “But these guys seem to do it with a purpose. Nobody cared who scored. They all played pretty hard defensively. It was a nice team to watch. Unfortunately I had to watch them from the other side.”