Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament: Tech Squeaks by Oklahoma

The Sooners had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but the ball was stripped away; Red Raiders win by one.

© William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports

In the night's second semifinal game, it came down to the wire. No. 3 seed and 14th ranked Texas Tech pulled off the win over No. 7 seed Oklahoma 56-55 in the Big 12 Tournament at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. 

The Big 12 is known for the defense, and that's what this game was all about. The first half was very slow paced. Tech took an early lead at 5-3 and maintained that throughout the half, but the Sooners kept trying to chip away at the lead. Tech ended up with an 11-point halftime advantage, 37-26. 

The second half became an even slower game than the first half. Tech started to pull away and eventually had a lead of 40-26 with just over 17 minutes left to play. Then the Red Raiders went cold. Over the next seven and a half minutes, Tech missed eight shots and committed three turnovers while the Sooners went on a 14-0 run. A free throw by Jordan Goldwire with 8:54  remaining put Oklahoma in the lead 45-44, their first lead since it was 3-2 early in the first half.

The rest of the game would be a tight one. It was tied twice late in the game, including a 54-54 tie with 2:43 left. Neither team would score for nearly two minutes. Clarence Nadolny scored his only points of the game with two late free throws that put Tech up 56-54 with 0:53 remaining. 

Nadolny then fouled Jacob Groves with 0:07 left. Groves went to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game. He made the first one, making the score 55-56. He missed the second shot. Oklahoma got the rebound and had a chance to score the go-ahead basket. Umoja Gibson was driving to the basket, and Tech stripped the ball away as time expired. 

Texas Tech will now face Kansas in the Big 12 Championship tonight at 5 p.m. from Kansas City. Oklahoma may have done enough the last two days to get their dance card punched. The Big 12 could end up with seven of the ten teams making the NCAA tournament. 

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