Texas Tech Basketball Falls to No. 16 Utah 73-63 in Puerto Rico

The No. 16 Utah Utes raced out to an early 12-point lead and would hold on for a 73-63 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thursday night in First Round Action of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament.

The Utes would have 24-12 first half lead over the Red Raiders by virtue of poor shooting from the Red Raiders, which would plague them for the whole game. The Red Raiders would shoot a horrendous 3 of 19 from three-point range and just 10 of 18 from the free-throw line.

In spite of the bad shooting, the Red Raiders wound hang tough with the Pac-12 heavyweight trailing only 36-33 at halftime with good rebounding where they owned the Utes by a 25-18 margin  and finishing the first half on a 21-12 run in the final ten minutes of the half paced by Aaron Ross with six points and Isaiah Manderson chipping in four points.

The second half was a different story for the Red Raiders where the Utes came out and out rebounded Tech by a 27-13 margin and extended their lead to 13 points as they kept the Red Raiders from executing on offense.

Tech would draw within six of the Utes with 2:49 left on a Keenan Evans jumper to make it 66-60, but the cold three-point shooting would doom the Red Raiders.

Devaughgntah Williams led the Red Raiders with 13 points, while Todrick Gotcher added in 12 while Lorenzo Bonham led the Utes with 20 points in the contest.

Texas Tech next plays Mississippi State at 4 p.m. on Friday on ESPNU.