College basketball: Baylor routs Texas Southern

Manu Lecomte’s wrap on his injured left thumb will come off eventually, assuming it heals.

Baylor coach Scott Drew chuckled while wondering whether that was a good thing.

“Maybe we need to wrap his hand all the time,” Drew said after Lecomte scored 22 points in his return after missing a game, helping the 21st-ranked Bears to a 99-68 victory over winless Texas Southern on Thursday night. “He was really good tonight.”

With the wrap on his non-shooting thumb, the Bears point guard was 7 of 11 from the field, made all five free throws and had a game-high six assists in the 46th consecutive home win over an unranked nonconference opponent for the Bears (8-2).

It was their third straight win since losing to No. 3 Wichita State on the Waco campus. Baylor improved to 11-0 against Texas Southern as the teams met for the fourth straight year.

Nuni Omot matched Lecomte with 22 points in the first game since scoring a career-high 30, and Jo Lual-Acuil had 18 points and two blocks with his Sudanese parents watching. In town for his graduation Saturday, his mom and dad hadn’t seen him in four years.

“I was nervous for the game, just because my mom has never seen me play,” said Lual-Acuil, who was born in Sudan before moving to Uganda and Australia as a child. “No words can really explain how I’m feeling, for when I did see them. It was definitely a special moment and a day I’ll always remember.”

Trae Jefferson scored 24 points for the Tigers (0-10), who are playing every November and December game away from home for the third straight year.

This year, the schedule for former Indiana coach Mike Davis’ Southwestern Athletic Conference team has included No. 12 Gonzaga and 13th-ranked Kansas along with Ohio State, Syracuse and Oregon.

“I think we lose money when we play home games,” Davis said. “I want our guys to get out and play on the road so we can get used to playing against real good competition. That’s the only way to get better. It’s worked for us the last three years.”

Lecomte, who missed a win over Randall when the Bears played at nearby Fort Hood for the third straight year, had a four-point play when he got fouled on a corner 3 to spark an 11-2 run for a 35-24 lead late in the first half.

The 5-foot-11 native of Belgium had another 3-pointer and five points in a 17-0 spurt for a 62-37 lead in the second half. Lecomte was 3 of 6 from long range.

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