Nov. 16, 2000

Box Score |  Quotes

WACO, Texas - Terry Black scored 19 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, but it was not enough as Baylor dropped an 82-79 decision to the Houston Superstars in exhibition men's basketball here Thursday night. The game was the second of two exhibition games for the Bears, who finished the 1999-2000 season with a 14-15 overall record.

Baylor had chances down the stretch to overcome the Superstars' lead but could not get the shots to fall. The Superstars took a 79-74 lead with just over three minutes, but neither team scored over the next two minutes. A Black dunk with 58 seconds to play closed the gap to two points.

After a Darrick McGriff free throw at the 31-second mark, DeMarcus Minor slashed to the bucket for a layup to cut the lead to one point with 14 seconds to play. But Chuck Henderson drained both free throws on the other end to push the Superstars' lead back out to three points. Minor had a look at a 22-foot three-pointer with eight seconds remaining, but it hit off the iron.

"I'm not sure that this game didn't help us tremendously because it showed us a lot of short-comings on our end," Baylor head coach Dave Bliss said. "We missed a lot of shots tonight that we can make. With our team depending so much on the perimeter game, we were never able to get things on track. But we lost this game on the defensive end. I was not happy at all with the way we defended the basket."

As a team, the Bears shot 43.2 percent from the field, however, Baylor connected on just 4-of-8 free throw attempts. Meanwhile, the Superstars shot 45.5 percent from the field, connecting on 10-of-22 from three-point range, and hit 12-of-16 from the charity stripe.

"It is important to realize that we are a work in progress," Bliss said. "Some of the things we did tonight can be a barometer for us in the future. We did not play with the same intensity tonight that we had last week (against Team Ezybonds), and that's the thing we have to work on. When you depend on offense the way we do, you have to play with more energy and intensity on the defensive end."

Tory Andrews led the Superstars with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Hammie Ward and McGriff had 13 points each.

The Bears opened an 18-8 lead over the first six minutes of the game. However, that advantage was erased over the next five minutes as the Superstars went on a 15-2 run to take a 23-20 lead at the 9:10 mark. That run was stopped when Black hit a jumper in the lane and Minor followed with a 10-footer.

From that point, neither team enjoyed a lead of more than two points the remainder of the half, which closed with the teams even 41-41 thanks to a Chuck Henderson three-pointer at the buzzer.

Greenleaf ended the opening period with 14 points with four three-pointers, Black had 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals in the first half. The game saw 14 lead changes in the first half, 11 of which came in the last eight minutes.

Baylor and the Houston Superstars traded baskets for the first five minutes of the second half before the Bears stretched a 50-49 lead into a 57-51 advantage at the 13-minute mark. However, the Superstars did not back down, battling back to take a 66-63 lead with eight minutes to play. The Bears never led again.

Baylor will open its 2000-2001 regular season Nov. 22, hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 7 p.m. in the Ferrell Center. The Bears will play their first four and 10 of their first 12 contests at home this season.