Texas Tech Stuns Mountaineers

West Virginia falls short against Texas Tech 78-72

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (15-12, 4-10) fell to the Texas Tech Red Raiders (14-13, 3-11) Saturday afternoon 78-72. 

West Virginia guard Erik Stevenson hit back-to-back threes to start the game and gave the Mountaineers an early 6-2 advantage. 

Texas Tech responded with a 5-0 spurt capped off with a three from freshman guard Pop Isaacs, but WVU forward Tre Mitchell immediately answered with a three to reclaim the Mountaineer lead 7-6 at the 16:45 mark of the first half. 

The Mountaineers built their largest first half lead of six near the midway point of the half following a three from guard Kedrian Johnson. 

Texas Tech came right back with a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead, 19-18, with 9:33 left to play in the half, but, again, the Mountaineers quickly answered after forward James Okonkwo was left open along the left baseline for a jumper to regain the WVU lead. 

Stevenson led West Virginia in scoring at halftime with 10 points and Johnson had nine as the Mountaineers held a 35-34 lead at the break. 

Texas Tech guard De'Vion Harmon recorded consecutive buckets to open the second half to give the Red Raiders the 40-37 lead. 

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

The Red Raiders were up one until Stevenson hit a jumper just inside the free throw line, and drew the foul, then followed it with consecutive threes to give West Virginia a 63-55 lead with 8:41 left to play. 

Unphased, Texas Tech came storming back with an 11-0 run before Stevens ended the run with a three to tie the game at 66 with 5:38 remaining in the game but a quick 4-0 spurt regained the Red Raider lead.

Kedrian Johnson buried a three to get the Mountaineers within one with just over three minutes remaining. However, WVU finished 0-5 from the field in the final two minutes of the game as Texas Tech pulled away with the 78-72 victory. 

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