WACO, Texas (AP) — Ja’Kobe Walter scored 23 points and had a team-high nine rebounds, fellow freshman Yves Missi added 16 points while making all eight of his shots and 18th-ranked Baylor christened the brand-new Foster Pavilion with a 98-79 victory over Cornell on Tuesday night.
Missi scored the first points in the Bears’ new home when the 7-footer from Cameroon made a short jumper 30 seconds into the game. After Sean Hansen made a 3-pointer on Cornell’s initial shot, Walter put Baylor (11-2) ahead to stay in its nonconference finale with a jumper.
RayJ Dennis had 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Bears.
The Bears moved about a mile from the Ferrell Center, where the 2021 national champions won 401 games over 35 years. They are 1-0 at the $212 million Foster Pavilion, which is part of a $700 million riverfront development in partnership between the school and the city of Waco.
Nazir Williams had 17 points to lead Cornell (10-3). Isaiah Gray and Chris Manon each had 12 points.
Baylor had its largest lead at 70-48 when Jalen Bridges made a 3-pointer with 16 minutes left.
The Bears then missed eight shots in a row and had four turnovers in a span of nearly seven minutes while Cornell went on a 15-0 run. Six players scored for the Big Red in that spurt, with Manon’s breakaway layup getting them within 70-63.
That was the closest Cornell got. Walter’s 3-pointer ended the Baylor scoring drought with 9:07 left.
BIG PICTURE
Two of the better shooting teams in the nation both played for only their fourth time since Dec. 6 because of exams and holidays. The Bears hadn’t played since closing out the Ferrell Center with a 107-48 win over Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 22, when they shot a school-record 67.2% from the field. They had a good shooting night — except for that span in the second half — to open their new home in a final tune-up before Big 12 play.
Cornell missed a chance for its first 11-2 start since the 1964-65 season.
BROTHERS ACT
Baylor’s Scott Drew and Cornell’s Brian Earl are part of the five active sets of brothers currently in Division I basketball. Drew’s brother Bryce is the coach at Grand Canyon. Dan Earl is Chattanooga’s coach.
UP NEXT
Cornell has a week off before its Ivy League opener at home vs. Columbia next Tuesday.
Baylor plays its Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State on Saturday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
