Baylor holds off Mississippi St. in NCAA Tournament

Langston Love added 15 points and Norchad Omier had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bears (20-14), who led by 11 points in the second half but had to hold off the Bulldogs in the final seconds — and even tenths of seconds.

Baylor advanced to face top-seeded Duke in the second round Sunday.

Josh Hubbard had 26 points to lead the Bulldogs (21-13), who sought their first March Madness victory since 2008.

Wright’s driving, underhanded, left-handed layup gave Baylor a 37-32 halftime lead, its biggest to that point. A free throw by Omier made it 60-49 with 8:10 remaining.

The Bulldogs stormed back and cut the lead to one with 29 seconds left when KeShawn Murphy scored in the lane on a baby hook.

Mississiipi State fouled Edgecombe with 9.3 seconds left and the Big 12 freshman of the year made both free throws.

Claudell Harris Jr. airballed a 3-pointer with a chance to tie the game with 1.1 seconds left. Omier was fouled on the inbounds play, and the game was seemingly over. But more time was put on the clock ,and Omier missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The Bulldogs grabbed the rebound with 0.2 seconds left and called timeout.

Hubbard’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good, although it may not have counted.