JT Toppin hit for 26 points and took 10 rebounds as No. 9 Texas Tech did just enough to hold on for a 76-74 win over Baylor on Thursday in a quarterfinal game of the Big 12 Conference tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
Darrion Williams added 14 points (all in the first half) and Elijah Hawkins and Kerwin Walton had 12 points apiece for the second-seeded Red Raiders (25-7). Texas Tech missed its final 10 shots from the floor and 13 of its last 14, going the final 7:26 without a field goal. The Red Raiders shot just 19.4 percent from the floor after halftime, leaving the door open for Baylor, the seventh seed.
Norchad Omier led all scorers with 29 points and 15 rebounds for seventh-seeded Baylor (19-14). V.J. Edgecombe added 11 points and Jayden Nunn had 10 for the Bears.
The Red Raiders advance to play either sixth-seeded Kansas or third-seeded Arizona on Friday in one of two tourney semifinals. Baylor is expected to be chosen as an at-large team for next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Texas Tech led by 13 points at halftime and by 15 two and a half minutes into the second half. Baylor rallied and made it a three-point game on Robert Wright’s driving layup with 26.5 seconds left.
A pair of free throws by Texas Tech’s Kevin Overton with 21 seconds remaining pushed the margin back to five points but the Bears answered with a 3-pointer from Nunn to make it 74-72.
Hawkins hit a pair of free throws to push it back to a four-point game before Wright’s layup again trimmed the lead to two. Christian Anderson then left the door open for Baylor when he missed two free throws with 5.8 seconds, but Edgecombe’s running 3-pointer at the buzzer clanged off the rim and away.
The Red Raiders owned the first half, going up 47-32 when Williams canned a hook shot with 2:56 remaining. A free throw by Hawkins with 4 seconds remaining allowed Texas Tech to carry a 52-39 lead into the break.
Toppin and Williams paced Texas Tech with 14 points apiece before halftime as the Red Raiders matched their highest-scoring first half of the season.
Omier led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
–Field Level Media
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