WACO, Texas  – The Gardner-Webb University men's basketball team dropped a hard fought road contest at #20 Baylor on Sunday evening by a final score of 77-62. The ballgame saw 16 lead changes and was tied four times before the Bears pulled away from the Runnin' Bulldogs.
 
"Baylor is good.", said coach Craft. "They're old, they're talented, they've got one of the best coaches in the country, they were here in front of their home crowd. There's a lot to take from that in whatever it was. For 30 minutes we were toe-to-toe with them and its disappointing to lose. It's always disappointing to lose, and we had our opportunities and we had our chances. I'm proud of the way our guys fought and competed. I thought we overcame a lot of adversity. They were just attacking the paint and getting the ball right to the rim, and we were just fouling, putting them on the line and on the other end we were 2-17 from the three-point line. When you are playing these elite teams, and we've won our share of these type of games, you've got to make some threes. It just wasn't our night. But I'm proud of our guys for overcoming all of that and still giving us chance to win. Late in the game we were still in it. So, really proud of them We just couldn't get it done down that stretch."
 
Following an early 13-8 lead by Baylor at the 13:31 mark, Gardner-Webb got off and Runnin' matching Baylor at 16 all a few minutes later by 9:51 on the clock. Key buckets from Isaiah Richards, Brendan Mykalcio and Cheickna Sissoko allowed the 'Dawgs to close the gap. The final 10 minutes of the first half saw the Runnin' Bulldogs go back and forth with the Bears with 11 lead changes. Baylor was ultimately able to grab the lead with a bit less than two minutes left talking a 40-34 lead into halftime. Julien Soumaoro led the first half scoring down the stretch for the 'Dawgs with nine points.
 
Gardner-Webb kept the up the pressure on the nationally ranked Bears early in the second half with Soumaoro staying hot from the floor. DQ Nicholas also began to heat up tallying eight points in the second half alone. The back and forth continued until the 14:02 minute mark when the score sat 48-48. Baylor's Jayden Nunn was able to jump start their scoring as the Bears took the lead with 12:59 left to go. Caleb Robinson joined Soumaoro in contributions to keep battling for the 'Dawgs late in the contest. Baylor came out on top by a final of 77-62. By the final horn there were 16 lead changes total and the game was tied four times.  
 
NOTABLES
Gardner-Webb hit the only two three points in the entire game for either team. Julien Soumaoro hit one of those as he led the 'Dawgs in scoring with 16 points. This was his second double-digit performance of the season thus far. Caleb Robinson hit the other three pointer, as he had a seven-point night. DQ Nicholas dropped 10 points on the night recording his second double-digit performance of the young season. Brendan MyKalcio nearly made it three 'Dawgs with double-digits as he scored nine.
 
UP NEXT
The Runnin' Bulldogs will now prepare to travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada for match ups with Weber State University (Nov. 17), Colgate University (Nov. 18), and Yale University (Nov. 19) as part of the Atlantic Slam Tournament. Gardner-Webb will return to Paul Porter Arena on Nov. 25 for a 1:00 p.m. tip off against Limestone University.