WACO, Texas _ The No. 24 team in the nation lived up to its billing on Friday as the Baylor Bears ran past the University of Central Arkansas Bears 107-66 in an afternoon matinee special at the Ferrell Center.

Baylor had a record-setting shooting day, hitting 66.1 percent from the field,70.6 percent from three-point range and 85 percent from the free-throw line, all numbers hard to overcome for the visiting team. UCA countered with a 22-point effort from All-Southland Conference guard Jordan Howard, which included three three-pointers to pad his school career record to 276. However, the only other UCA player to score in double figures was senior Mathieu Kamba who had 12 points.

The tall, athletic Baylor Bears dominated the rebounding, to the tune of a 42-21 advantage. UCA's leader on the boards was junior Tanner Schmit with four.

"I was very impressed with Baylor,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "The length and strength of this team inside was very impressive, and with the point guard play [Baylor had] in that game, this has the making of a very good team. I think (Coach) Scott [Drew] has done a very good job of consistently bringing talent in here and making this one of the premier programs, obviously a top 25 program.

"From our stand point, I thought the second half we got a little discouraged, which is typical of a team like us. If you don't watch it you start playing the scoreboard when you are playing these big teams and you don't get any better and I don't feel this second half we got any better, and I think this is something we can build off of.'

The Bears led early, taking an 8-5 lead as 7-foot freshman center Hayden Koval opened the game with a three-pointer and Howard added his first. But over the next nine minutes, Baylor outscored UCA 30-8 to pull away. UCA used a 10-4 run to close the first half to cut what had been a 22-point lead to just 16 at the break, 53-37.
 

Howard had 13 points in the opening 20 minutes but Baylor got 16 from senior guard Manu Lecomte, who finished with a team-high 22 points on 6 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc. The home Bears outscored the visiting Bears 54-29 in the second half, improving on their torrid first-half shooting by hitting 68.8 percent after the break.

For the game, UCA shot 39.7 percent overall, 30 percent (6 of 20) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (10 of 15) from the free-throw line. Baylor had four other starters in double figures besides Lecomte, including 7-0 center Jo Lual-Acuil with 17 points and 9 rebounds, Nuni Omot, Tristan Clark and King McClure with 15 each, and also Terry Maston with 14 points off the bennch. Baylor had 29 assists and made 12 three-pointers.

"I think that's what makes Baylor so special,' said Pennell. "I think I saw they had 29 assists. That's sharing the basketball, and everyone likes to play in that system. It's fun to watch that and you are going to win a lot of games when you are what we refer to as a willing passer, and I think they definitely do that.'

UCA got contributions from its reliable veterans, but also some newcomers. Koval had five points and a blocked shot but went to the locker room midway through the first half with a busted lip that required stitches. Freshman point guard DeAndre Jones played 16 minutes and had 2 points and three assists. Freshman Matthew Mondesir got 14 minutes and had two rebounds and three assists.
 

As far as returnees, junior Otas Iyekekpolor finished with six points, 2 rebounds and a blocked shot, while Tannner Schmit had 4 points and 4 rebounds.

"Otas has probably been one of the surprises of the fall,' said Pennell. "He may be one of the most improved players I've ever coached, from  where he started to where he is now. He's done a really good job. He has made himself a good basketball player and willed himself into some good minutes.' 

Howard made at least one three-pointer for the 87th game out of 90 career games and scored in double figures for the 86th time. 

"I think Jordan played just about how we expected, he just didn't get any help from his friends,' said Pennell. "Jordan has always been an efficient player and will probably go down as this school's all-time leading scorer and already owns every three-point record we have. I think great scorers have to be willing passers first and Jordan is certainty that.'

UCA's home opener at the Farris Center is set for 4 p.m. Sunday when the University of the Ozarks comes to Conway. The Bears will then travel to Los Angeles to face No. 18/20 UCLA on Wednesday night.