Texas Tech Red Raiders Beat Texas Southern in Legends Classic Match-up

Monday night, the Texas Tech Red Raiders beat Texas Southern 80-71 at the United Spirit Arena.  The game was a first round match-up in the Progressive Legends Classic.  Jaye Crockett led Texas Tech with 21 points and seven rebounds. Robert Turner also scored in double digits with 15 points and Dusty Hannahs contributed 19 points off the bench, including three, three-pointers.

Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith (pictured) praised his team's effort in the victory, "I love the way our guys showed a lot of toughness, a lot of heart and so did Texas Southern. I thought their ability to drive the ball to the basket was a real challenge for us all night. There were some errors we need to get better at, but I was pleased with the way we closed the game out."

Texas Tech was a little slow out of the gate, down by four, with a 10-6 TSU lead just after the first media timeout.  The Red Raiders then went on a 14-3 over the next six minutes of game time to have a 20-13 lead with nine minutes left in the half.

The Red Raiders took a 31-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The start of the second half also wasn't kind to the Red Raiders. Five fouls committed by Red Raiders over a three minute span gave TSU the ability to eat away at Tech's 35-31 lead with an 8-4 scoring run.

TSU tied with game at 39 with 15:18 left with two Jose Rodriguez free throws. Tech then took back the lead at 40-39 with a Randy Onwuasor free throw. TSU immediately responded with a layup by Aaric Murry to gain a 41-40 lead.

The game see-sawed back-and-forth for two more possessions with a Jaye Crockett layup for the Red Raiders and a Scott D'Angelo bucket for TSU.

Then, with 12:43 left in the contest Dusty Hannahs made one of his three, three-pointers in the game to give the Red Raiders a 45-43 lead.  It looked like the Red Raiders would pull away for the win at that point, but TSU had one more run left in them.

With nine minutes left in the game, Texas Tech was up 54-47 after two Dusty Hannahs free throws.  TSU buckled down defensively forcing two missed shots and a turnover while on a 7-0 run.  They tied the game at 54 with 7:24 left.

Jordan Tolbert then asserted himself in the paint for the Red Raiders, making a go-ahead layup and blocking a shot.  A minute later Jaye Crockett (pictured, left) dunked the ball home to give Texas Tech a 58-55 lead and that gave the Red Raiders all the cushion they would need.

Texas Tech's next game is their second round game for the Progressive Legends Classic. The Red Raiders host South Dakota State on Thursday in a game that tips off at 7p.