Kerwin Walton scored a career-high 22 points and Texas Tech hit a red-hot shooting stretch from beyond the arc in the first half to build a comfortable lead and never looked back in an 87-58 victory over Omaha in Lubbock, Texas.
The Red Raiders (6-2) knocked down 6 of 7 3-pointers in one game-changing stretch of the opening half to break free from a back-and-forth game. Walton canned four of the threes during the outburst, helping Texas Tech grab a commanding 31-12 lead with 8:06 left until halftime.
Walton continued to stay hot and finished the night 6-for-7 from deep. The Red Raiders finished 11-for-28 as a team after nailing 7 of 16 long-range attempts in the first half.
With its outside accuracy as the foundation for success, Texas Tech led by as many as 25 points in the first half on the way to a 42-22 halftime cushion.
The Red Raiders led by at least 16 for the entirety of the second half, with their advantage topping out at 38.
The Mavericks (5-5), who had a three-game winning streak snapped, shot the ball well over the first 20 minutes, going 10-for-21 from the field. But they couldn’t keep pace from 3-point range and finished 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) from deep. Omaha also turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, which led to 14 points by the Red Raiders.
Omaha held its own in other facets of the game, with 22 points in the paint and 11 second-chance points.
Joe Toussaint led Texas Tech in the early going with 14 first-half points. He ended up finishing with 18, sinking 7 of 8 shots at the free-throw line. The Red Raiders made 18 of 20 (90 percent) foul shots as a team.
Warren Washington hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds for Texas Tech, which won the battle on the glass, 37-27.
Marquel Sutton and Frankie Fidler paced Omaha with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Those two combined to knock down 12 of 22 shots, while the rest of the team went 10-for-31.
–Field Level Media