Arizona State falls to Baylor

December 03, 2010

LaceDarius Dunn had 24 points with six 3-pointers and sparked the tie-breaking run after halftime as No. 11 Baylor stretched its home winning streak to 11 games with a 68-54 victory over Arizona State on Thursday night.<separator></separator>Dunn made all of his 3-pointers before bruising his left forearm when he fell hard to the court going for an offensive rebound with 6:43 left. He was on the court writhing in pain, then went to the bench, where he kept rubbing his arm and grimacing before returning 2 minutes later. He was still hurting when he got back in the game.<separator></separator>It was only Dunn's third game this season for Baylor (6-0).<separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/kuksiks_rihards00.html… Kuksiks</a> hit consecutive 3-pointers for Arizona State (3-3) in the opening minute of the second half to tie the game at 33. Dunn responded with a 3-pointer, the first of his two in a quick 7-2 run that gave Baylor the lead for good.<separator></separator>Dunn, the leading scorer last season when Baylor made it to an NCAA regional final and had a school-record 28 wins, was suspended for the first three games of the season after a domestic dispute charge earlier this fall.<separator></separator>In his three games since returning, Dunn has averaged 22.7 points a game and made 16 3-pointers. He was already Baylor's career leader for 3-pointers, and now has 315 - with at least one in 20 consecutive games.<separator></separator>Kuksiks led Arizona State with 13 points, while Ty Abott had 12 on four 3-pointers and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/cain_kyle00.html">Kyle Cain</a> scored 10 points.<separator></separator>A.J. Walton had 13 points, four steals, three assists and five rebounds for Baylor. Freshman Perry Jones had 12 points.<separator></separator>Baylor was up 59-45 when Dunn got hurt, a play on which he was called for a foul. When he was sitting at the scorers table waiting to return, and even when he got back on the court, he was rubbing and shaking his arm.<separator></separator>Soon after getting back in the game, he dived on the court for a loose ball - reaching out with his left arm that was hit by a defender. He stayed in the game, and only made two free throws after that.<separator></separator>Baylor hadn't trailed at all its previous three games, and coach Scott Drew called a timeout after Arizona State had a 5-0 lead only 83 seconds into the game. The Bears responded with a 16-3 run, when the only ASU basket was Abbott's 3-pointer.<separator></separator>After Abbott's 3 put the Sun Devils up 8-7, they had four turnovers and got off one shot over the next 4 1/2 minutes. Jones had a dunk and another inside basket, Dunn hit a 3 and Walton had a fadeaway jumper for a 16-8 Baylor lead.<separator></separator>The Bears stretched the lead to 30-18 when J'mison Morgan gathered in the ball underneath the basket and made a reverse layup with just under 7 minutes left until halftime, when they still led 33-27.<separator></separator>Baylor's 11-game home winning streak matches the longest in the Ferrell Center. With exams coming up, the Bears don't play another game until Dec. 15, at home against Bethune-Cookman.

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