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PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Baylor couldnt get Johnathan Motley going early, Manu Lecomte was fighting his shot and the 20th-ranked Bears found themselves trailing for one of the few times this season.Their response? Cut down on turnovers, frustrate VCU defensively and grind out the tough baskets, a formula that helped Baylor hold off the Rams 71-63 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.When youre shooting well and the games coming easy on the offensive end, its easy to have that carry over on the defensive end, Baylor coach Scott Drew said. It takes the mentally tough players when theyre not making shots they normally make to make sure it doesnt carry over and affect that on the defensive end.Motley scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime. Al Freeman scored 15 points, hitting three baskets during a critical second-half sequence for the Bears (4-0).In addition, Lecomte shook off a rough shooting game to finish with 16 points, including a hanging layup while being knocked to the ground for a three-point play to go with several key free throws in the final minute.You needed toughness to play in this type of game, Freeman said.JeQuan Lewis had 21 points for the Rams (3-1). They went without a basket for roughly 6 1/2 minutes during the second half.VCU used a late-half burst to lead 36-28 at the break and shot 58 percent in the opening half, but it cooled in the second half as the Bears defense tightened. VCU shot just 35 percent after halftime.I think we played really well for about 25 minutes, VCU coach Will Wade said. It got away from us the last 15 minutes.BIG PICTUREVCU: The Rams just couldnt find someone to step up and make a big basket as the empty possessions mounted during the critical second-half stretch. That included a run of six straight misses with a few turnovers during that field-goal drought.We have to play a full, complete game to be beat the best teams on our schedule, Wade said. We werent able to do that today.Baylor: Drew could at least feel good about his teams response after falling behind late in the opening half and then trailing through the first 9 minutes of the second half, especially with how it had just five second-half turnovers after committing 11 in the first 20 minutes. Baylor had led for 94 percent of game time through its first three games.I liked the way we fought back, Motley said.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Bears entered the AP Top 25 this week after upsetting Oregon at home last week. Baylor could only help its standing in the three-games-in-three-days event, especially with No. 10 Louisville and No. 24 Michigan State lurking in the bracket.LECOMTES DAYLecomte had made just 2 of 11 shots before that three-point play with 51.1 seconds left. He also went 10 of 11 from the line, including a 7-for-7 effort in the final minute.I was struggling shooting so my job was just to find the hot man ... and they did a great job finishing, he said.FREEMANS FINISHESFreeman, a 6-foot-3 junior from Charlotte, North Carolina, hit a driving shot then followed with a big 3-pointer off a crosscourt feed. His third big basket came when he drove by Jordan Burgess for a score to push the lead to 60-53 with 3:07 left.UP NEXTVCU: The Rams will play St. Johns, which lost to Michigan State, on Thursday on Day 2 of the three-day tournament.Baylor: The Bears will play No. 24 Michigan State in the semifinals on Thursday.---This story has been corrected to show the first name of Motley is Johnathan, not Jonathan.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap---More AP college basketball at http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25 Joe Montana Super Bowl Jersey . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Martinas Rankin Super Bowl Jersey . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery Friday. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. http://www.officialkcchiefspro.com/Tanoh-kpassagnon-chiefs-jersey/ . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Tyreek Hill Super Bowl Jersey .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Eric Fisher Super Bowl Jersey . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Some 5,000 miles away from Brazil, longtime racewalking coach and competitor Don Lawrence was watching an online feed of Fridays mens 20-kilometer event at the Rio Games when the conversation turned to doping within the sport.The question was if it will ever be considered clean.I dont see that coming in the near future, Lawrence said.A grim answer, yet that is the reality for racewalking right now. Dogged by doping issues for years, and with one of the highest-profile people in the niche sport being handed an eight-year ban just one day before the first racewalk of these Olympics, it presses on -- with predictable insistence from those that the worst days are in the past.Wang Zhen of China won the gold medal Friday in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 14 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of countryman Cai Zelin. Australias Dane Bird-Smith was another 11 seconds back to take the bronze medal, in a field that had no Russians as part of the massive fallout from the discovery of a state-sponsored doping program.Even the Russians had turned up for this race, it wouldnt have changed a thing, said Bird-Smith, the son of a two-time Olympian. Im still here to bring it to them. So theres no backing off, even if theres guys that are doping in the race. ... Ill always advocate that we crack down hard on anyone whos caught in doping. It just got to a point where it was a bit ridiculous, wasnt it?Oh, its been ridiculous.Fridays race came one day after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the appeal of Italian racewalker Alex Schwazer -- the 2008 Olympic champion in the 50-kilometer racewalk -- and imposed an eight-year ban for steroid usage. Its a double-whammy for Schwazer, who also missed the 2012 London Games following a ban for another doping offense.Doping is one of the most frustrating things in this sport, Bird-Smith said. Theres not much you can do.Wang won the bronze medal at the London Games four yeears ago, and the 1-2 finish for the Chinese marked the third time that one country took the top two spots in the 20-kilometer walk.dddddddddddd And its the second straight gold for China in the event, after Chen Ding won in London.I just followed my heart, Wang said.Russia had claimed 11 medals in racewalking in the last five Olympics. Theres also been at least 33 doping cases involving Russian walkers in recent years, with 26 of those leading to bans -- and almost all out of the same training program.Its well-established that the sport is rather peculiar to watch, especially for those unfamiliar with the rules and nuance of racewalking. A tightly packed mass of athletes start en masse, elbows swinging, hips swaying, legs straightening with every stride and ensuring that one foot makes contact with the ground at all times.I tend to think that those who put down the sport because of its silly gait have never tried it, Lawrence said in a telephone interview from the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. You have to have a thick skin to do it.But the cloud of cheating, whether real or imagined, certainly doesnt help.And for those within the sport, frustration is clear.Its been kind of disappointing since our sport doesnt get that much attention and publicity anyway, and then this is what its known for now, said U.S. junior womens racewalker Meaghan Podlaski, a future Olympic hopeful who attends Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Im hopeful that one day everyone will see the positive things, not just see it as a bunch of cheaters and dopers.Bird-Smith has the same hope.Its something that all athletes have dealt with for the last couple years, Bird-Smith said. And its something were going to continue to deal with, because its such a tough problem to overcome. ' ' '