Baylor fends off Mississippi States March Madness upset attempt to stay alive

RALEIGH, N.C.— Baylor survived Mississippi State and itself, 75-72, in Friday’s NCAA Tournament opening round at the Lenovo Center.The game was as tight as you’d expect one between No.

8 seed (Mississippi State) and a No.9 (Baylor) to be, with seven lead changes and six ties in the first half alone.Neither team entered the tournament playing very good basketball.

Mississippi State entered the game having lost five of its last six games and Baylor had gone in losing six of its past nine.In the end, Baylor (20-14) advanced to play the winner of Friday’s Duke-Mount St.Mary’s game, which was played later in the afternoon.“They just played tougher than us tonight,’’ Mississippi State’s Cameron Matthews said.

“They just kind of punked us.’’ The Bears appeared in control of the game, taking a 60-49 lead with 8:11 remaining, their largest lead of the game.But Mississippi State grinded its way back into it, going on a 21-11 run to cut the Baylor lead to 71-70 with 1:19 remaining on three Claudell Harris Jr.free throws. But Mississippi State would get no closer. A KeShawn Murphy 3-pointer again cut the lead to one (73-72) with 29.5 seconds remaining.But Baylor’s V.J.

Edgecombe, a Bahamas native who played his last two years of high school ball for Long Island Lutheran in Brookville, sank two clutch free throws with 9.3 seconds remaining to give the Bears the 75-72 lead.Want to tune into as much March Madness as you can? DIRECTV Stream and Hulu + Live TV both have you covered with every channel you’ll need, plus free trials.“When V.J.hit those two big free throws, we kind of knew from there the game was pretty over,’’ Baylor’s Rob Wright, who led the Bears with 19 points, said.“Thank God, V.J.

hit both free throws and we call it a game,’’ Baylor’s Norchad Omier said.  Edgecombe, who finished with 16 points, got off to a poor start, scoring only four in the first half on 1-of-4 shooting.Baylor coach Scott Drew wasn’t conc...