JT Toppin scored 22 points and hauled in nine rebounds to lead No. 13 Texas Tech to a 70-63 win over West Virginia in Big 12 Conference play on Sunday in Morgantown, W.Va.
Donovan Atwell scored 15 points, Christian Anderson returned from a one-game absence due to illness and scored 13 points and handed out 11 assists for the Red Raiders (17-6, 7-3 Big 12). Jaylen Petty added 11 points as Texas Tech snapped a two-game losing streak.
Brenen Lorient led West Virginia (15-9, 6-5) with 21 points. Jasper Floyd and Chance Moore each contributed 10 points for the Mountaineers.
Texas Tech made 47.9% of its field goal attempts and 54.2% of its threes (13 of 24). Conversely, West Virginia shot 43.6% from the field and just 9.1% from long range (2 of 22). The poor marksmanship from behind the arc offset the Mountaineers effectiveness around the rim.
West Virginia held a 38-20 advantage on points scored in the paint.
A Toppin three extended the Texas Tech lead to double digits, 30-19, with 5:49 left in the half. Moments later, Petty canned a wide-open three and the Red Raiders led 35-23. Toppin’s hook shot gave the Red Raiders a 39-27 halftime lead.
While the Mountaineers shot 40.7% (11 of 27) in the first half, they connected on just 14.3% of their shots from beyond the arc (2 of 14). Texas Tech lit it up and shot 60.9% (14 of 23) from the field and 72.7% (8 of 11) from three.
After a listless first half where the Texas Tech defense held Mountaineers leading scorer Honor Huff scoreless, West Virginia came out of the locker room fired up.
An 8-0 run featured four close-range buckets as the Mountaineers pulled within 39-35 on a reverse layup from Harlan Obioha.
Consecutive treys from Atwell and Toppin snapped the West Virginia rally and highlighted a 10-0 scoring spree as the Red Raiders’ led 50-37.
A late 13-5 West Virginia rally featured nine points from Lorient and pulled the Mountaineers within 68-63 with seven seconds to play. LeJaun Watts nailed two free throws in the closing seconds for the final margin.
Huff finished with six points – all on free throws – and missed all eight of his field-goal attempts.
