V.J. Edgecombe and Baylor hold off Mississippi State in final seconds to win 75-72 in March Madness

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RALEIGH, N.C. — NBA lottery prospect V.J. Edgecombe had just four points at halftime of Baylor’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi State.

That didn’t concern Bears coach Scott Drew.

The athletic Edgecombe responded with a big second half and finished with 16 points, including two clutch free throws down the stretch, to help the ninth-seeded Bears hold off the eighth-seeded Bulldogs 75-72 on Friday.

“Because he’s so highly rated on the draft boards, people just assume that he’s going to score,” Drew said. “V.J. doesn’t have to score to impact a game. He is an all-around player. He gets comparisons to Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, and the thing that those guys did is their athleticism and their ability to assist, defend. It affects the game. So if he’s scoring or not, he’s helping us.”

Edgecombe also had five rebounds, a block and a steal in his first NCAA Tournament game.

Robert Wright scored 19 points, Langston Love added 15 and Norchad Omier had a strong game inside with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bears (20-14), who led by 11 points in the second half but had to hold off the Bulldogs in the final seconds — and even tenths of seconds. Baylor advanced to face either Mount St. Mary’s or Duke — the top seed in the East Region — in the second round on Sunday.

Josh Hubbard scored 26 points to lead Mississippi State (21-13), which was seeking its first March Madness victory since 2008.

The Bears led 60-49 with 8:10 remaining after a free throw by Omier.

But the Bulldogs stormed back and cut the lead to one with 29 seconds left when KeShawn Murphy scored in the lane on a baby hook. Edgecombe was fouled with 9.3 seconds left and the Big 12 freshman of the year calmly stepped to the line and made both.

“Playing in the Big 12, you just have a lot of close games, and coming in here, we know that in March a lot of stuff happens,” Omier said. “V.J. hit both free throws, and…

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Publish date : 2025-03-21 19:56:00

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