LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech men’s basketball team overcame a seven-point deficit inside the final two minutes, but Baylor’s Lester Medford connected on a three-pointer as time expired to lift Baylor to a 63-60 decision over the Red Raiders Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Texas Tech (11-5, 1-4 Big 12) was handed its fourth straight defeat, while Baylor (14-3, 4-1 Big 12) collected its four consecutive win. The Red Raiders kept Baylor off the boards and held a 28-27 rebounding edge. The Bears were limited to 10 assists on 25 field goals after entering today’s game leading the nation in assists per game.
Devaugntah Williams dialed up a game-high 16 points and added two steals en route to his team-leading 12th game in double figures on the season. Williams piled up 10 of the 16 points during the opening half after being limited to a combined 12 points over his last two games.
Aaron Ross provided a spark off the bench with a Big 12 career-best 14 points on 5-of-9 from the floor. Ross has secured 10-plus points in back-to-back Big 12 games for the first time in his career.
“Baylor did what they had to do,” Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith said. “They made a big shot there. My hat is off to Lester Medford. That shot has to go in. I thought Aaron (Ross) contested it well, but it was just a tough defensive assignment for him. I’m proud of how our kids competed, came back and fought to give us a chance.”
Toddrick Gotcher and Zach Smith nearly collected double-doubles for the Red Raiders. Gotcher provided nine points and seven rebounds whereas Smith secured eight points and seven rebounds. Both players dished out a pair of assists.
Keenan Evans filled the box score with four points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Off the bench, Jordan Jackson connected on his first career three-pointer. Justin Gray, Devon Thomas and Matthew Temple tacked on two points apiece.
Texas Tech was 21-of-49 from the floor which included a 5-of-18 effort from the three-point territory. The Red Raiders knocked down 13-of-15 at the foul line which included all 11 of their free throws during the second 20 minutes.
Baylor connected on a 25-for-50 shooting performance and sank 5-for-11 on three-pointers. The Bears were 8-for-15 from the charity stripe and garnered a 32-26 advantage in paint points. Al Freeman tallied a team-leading 14 points, and Terry Maston registered 12 points on an efficient 6-of-8 shooting clip for the Bears. Rico Gathers notched seven points and hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
Trailing 58-51 at the 2:34 mark, Gotcher began the Texas Tech rally with a trio of free throws. The Red Raiders got a defensive stop, and Smith buried two free throws to bring Tech within 58-56 with 1:40 remaining.
Maston responded for Baylor with a layup to make it 60-56 with 1:09 to go. Late in the shot clock, Williams drove the basket and rolled in a layup over Gathers to pull the Red Raiders within 60-58 with 49.2 seconds left.
Following a Texas Tech timeout, Baylor threw a homerun pass the length of the floor to Medford. Williams raced back and stripped Medford forcing the ball to go off his leg for a turnover.
The Red Raiders capitalized with a Smith midrange jumper on the right baseline courtesy of a Williams assist to knot the score at 60-60 with 24.2 seconds.
After a Baylor timeout, Medford dropped in a three-pointer over Ross from a few feet right of the top of the key as the buzzer sounded to vault the Bears to the 63-60 win.
“We started to trap them on their pick-and-rolls and tried to take the ball out of Lester Medford’s hands,” Smith said. “I think that helped us. At the end, we probably should have trapped Medford. We had been doing it up until that point. We probably should have made someone else beat us. We tried to pick it up [defensively] in the second half. If we score a couple baskets, we get energized and can get into our press. We extended our defense a little more and trapped in the pick-and-roll.”
Texas Tech worked its way back from a 36-25 deficit at the 1:22 mark of the first half. Evans hit a runner in the lane and drove baseline for a layup as the first half horn sounded to slice the Baylor advantage down to 36-29.
The Red Raiders kept the momentum and ripped off 10 of the next 12 points to surge ahead 39-38 with 12:26 remaining. Smith bookended the flurry with a two-handed dunk through traffic and a layup off a nice feed from Temple.
The two teams traded the lead on five occasions, and the Red Raiders had a 51-50 edge after Williams rattled home a pair of free throws with 5:29 left. Baylor answered with the next eight points, six courtesy of Freeman to go up 58-51 with 2:34 to go.
“I thought we battled one of the best rebounding teams in the nation,” Smith said. “We’re doing our job on the boards. We didn’t get much out of a couple guys on the boards. Otherwise, we did a good job, especially Toddrick. He was huge with seven rebounds. Zach is always outstanding. He’s got great heart and great hustle. I’m just proud of how they played and how they competed. We’re getting better, we’re just playing against some really good teams.”
The Red Raiders have their quick turnaround in conference play and travel to TCU on Monday. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by ESPNU in addition to being available on www.WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.
Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Information Department