After JeQuan Lewis hit a 3-pointer for VCU (3-1), Lecomte hit the last six free throws to seal the win for the Bears.

“There’s a reason VCU has been in the tournament six straight years,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew in his postgame radio interview. “We knew this would be a hard-fought, tough game. It could have been worse at halftime the way we turned it over. But I really liked the poise of the team in the second half. We made the right plays.”

Lewis nailed five of 10 3-pointers for the Rams to score a game-high 21 points. Hamdy-Mohamed scored 14 and Jonathan Williams hit 12 and sparked an aggressive defense that held the Bears to a 43.8 field goal percentage and two of nine 3-pointers.

With the Rams supplying great pressure, Baylor made 16 turnovers.

“We knew they would be physical and have good ball pressure and would be crazy getting after us,” Freeman said. “We got off to a really good start with a lot of energy like good teams do but they responded. We kept trying to play physical and get stops, and that’s what it came down to.”

After the Bears rallied to tie the game in the second half, Terry Maston scored inside to give Baylor a 51-49 lead with 8:17 remaining. Hamdy-Mohamed tied it by scoring inside for the Rams.