In the three days since the Baylor boys' basketball team's first loss of the season, first-year coach Mark Price had spent every moment possible during practices challenging his post players to redeem themselves.
Friday night, with a standing-room-only crowd making Baylor's Duke Arena buzz, sophomore Nick Kurtz proved he had taken his coach's challenge to heart. Scoring 12 of his 14 points in the game's first 10 minutes, Kurtz helped set the tone as the top-ranked Red Raiders methodically pulled away for an impressive 71-47 Division II-AA East/Middle Region victory over rival McCallie, which is ranked fourth in the state.
"After the way we played earlier this week, I challenged our guys to really win in the paint," Price said, referring to Baylor's 11-point loss at Chattanooga Christian School that snapped a 15-game winning streak to open the season. "I told them that after the way we had played at CCS, if I was coaching against us I would go right at us in the post. I believe we took that to heart because we definitely responded.
"We established ourselves down in the post, and that's the way we need Nick to play for us."
Baylor (16-1, 6-0) took its first lead midway through the first quarter on a Kurtz layup that was part of an 8-0 run. From there, it was Beyuan Hendricks' turn to take over and the senior guard scored six consecutive points late in the second quarter to push the Red Raiders' four-point lead to double digits.
Hendricks picked up his pace again in the second half, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers and accounting for 14 of his game-high 24 points during a 37-25 second-half run.
"We knew we're a way better team than what we showed earlier this week," Hendricks said. "We came out and won this game on both ends, offensive and defensive, and we rebounded much better.
"Nick really got us going early, and after I made a couple of shots, that got me going and we all started playing with confidence in front of our home crowd."
Baylor held the Blue Tornado (14-5, 4-2) to just three field goals in the first seven minutes of the third quarter.
Blake Pruitt added 13 points for the Red Raiders, who will play two games in Nashville next week, at Montgomery Bell Academy and Ensworth.
"You knew with the emotion of this game, with the rivalry, that our guys were going to be ready to play," Price added. "What can concern you about that is being overly emotional, but I thought we came out and handled the atmosphere really well.
"We were able to do what we had worked on in practice and executed. Beyuan was spectacular. He's been in a lot more of these rivalry games than I have, and that experience matters and it showed."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.