Baylor Boys Overtake Knox Webb, 42-33

The Baylor School boys' basketball team overcame an early deficit to defeat Knoxville Webb Friday night on the road, 42-33.

The Baylor girls, meanwhile, lost to the Lady Spartans, the top-rated girls team in the Knoxville area, by a score of 59-15. Leading the way for Coach John Gibson�s Lady Red Raiders were Teal Nabors with 7 points, Nina Davenport and Katie Wilson with 3 each, and Conley Crimmins with 2.

In the boys' game, Baylor appeared initially as if it might also suffer a convincing loss. Webb led 9-4 at the end of the first quarter and the Red Raider deficit continued to expand well into the second quarter.

But after the score reached 13-5, Baylor made a steal and appeared to become a different team. It began playing defense tight and up close, and Alan Owsley started playing offense successfully from far away, His three 3-pointers in the first half helped Baylor take an 18-17 lead at intermission.

The Red Raiders would eventually take a 29-22 lead at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Webb cut the deficit to six with about 1:25 left. However, a dunk by a wide-open Sydney Tarver on a fast break with 45 seconds left in the game put Baylor back up by nine and figuratively slammed the door shut on Webb.

Although Baylor head coach Austin Clark admitted he was happy to win a road game, he still sounded like a film critic offering a mixed review.

"I don't think we played as well as we could have by any stretch," he said. "We are still getting the kinks out. But a win on the road is good."

He also does not have long to enjoy the win, as top-ranked Brentwood Academy comes to Baylor's Duke Arena on Saturday.

Leading the way for Baylor were Tarver and James Feher with 13 points each. Tarver also had 10 rebounds, while Feher had 8. Other scorers for Baylor, which moved to 4-8 on the season and 1-0 in region play, were Owsley, with 9 points, and University of Tennessee football commitment Kevin Cooper, who had 7.

Another UT connection at the game was Lady Vols' basketball head coach Pat Summitt. Her son, sophomore Tyler Summitt, was the starting point guard for Webb. The diminutive-but-stocky player did not score any points but he did bark out offensive plays and orders in a loud and authoritative way on several occasions.

His well-known mother watched the game closely but with more much more reserve than when she coaches.

Former UT player coach Clark, meanwhile, was typically very intense and animated, sometimes running as much up and down the sideline as his players did on the court.