NCAA tournament: No. 3 Baylor routs No. 10 St. Mary’s, 72-49

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LaceDarius Dunn, Tweety Carter and Baylor had all the fun tonight, ending what had been an entertaining NCAA tournament ride for Omar Samhan and surprising St. Mary’s.

Dunn and Carter both made three-pointers on their first shots and later combined for a highlight alley-oop dunk as Baylor rushed to a big lead and romped, 72-49, in the South Regional semifinals in Houston.

The third-seeded Bears (28-7) will play Sunday for a chance at their first Final Four since 1950, when there were only eight teams in the field.

More impressive for Baylor, it is another inspiring step in redemption nearly seven years after Coach Scott Drew took over a program reeling and recovering from a murder and scandal that shook the world’s largest Baptist university like nothing in its history.

Drew had to rebuild with reduced scholarships, a roster decimated when the top three scorers were allowed to transfer and an unprecedented half-season after the NCAA considered shutting the program down a whole year.

Dunn and Carter, two top Louisiana high school players who were recruited by other established programs, still came to Baylor. And now they have helped get the Bears, who were picked 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll by the league’s coaches, to the Elite Eight.

Dunn scored 23 points with four three-pointers and Carter added 14 points for Baylor.

Samhan, who had become a breakout star in the tournament with his dominating play in the first two rounds and the one-liners when talking or tweeting, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. He had only made only one of eight shots and had only three points at halftime for the Gaels (28-6).

-- Associated Press

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