Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 18 points, hitting 8 of 9 at the free-throw line, as No. 24 Texas Tech shrugged off a sluggish start to defeat Southern Miss 71-65 on Monday in Lubbock, Texas.
The win pushed the Red Raiders' nonconference home winning streak to 52 games, second in the nation only to Butler's 56-game run.
The Red Raiders led just 62-60 after a dunk by Southern Miss's Hunter Dean with 2:45 to play. Texas Tech immediately responded with a jumper by TJ Holyfield to push the advantage to four points before Davide Moretti's 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining cemented the game for the Red Raiders.
Moretti hit for 17 points, 13 of those in the second half, and Chris Clarke added 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for Texas Tech (7-3). The Red Raiders played their fourth straight game without leading scorer Jahmi'us Ramsey because of a hamstring injury.
LaDavius Draine led the Golden Eagles (3-9) with 21 points. Gabe Watson added 20 for Southern Miss in the loss, its sixth in seven games.
Southern Miss shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and got 13 points from Watson to forge a 32-25 advantage at halftime. The Golden Eagles, buoyed by a 11-0 run in the middle of the half, led by as many as eight points in a half that they dominated after the first minute.
Shannon paced the Red Raiders with eight points in the half. Texas Tech shot just 23.3 percent from the floor and was 2 of 15 from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes.
Texas Tech tied the game at 40 on a three-point play by Clarke with 14:29 to play and took its first lead since the contest's opening minute with a jumper by Kyler Edwards with 12:54 remaining.
The Red Raiders took charge with a 6-0 run in the middle of the second half that granted them a 54-51 advantage with 8:19 to play. The lead stretched to five points on a dunk by Shannon with 5:33 remaining.
--Field Level Media
Southern Miss | Texas Tech | |
LaDavius Draine 21 | Scoring | Terrence Shannon Jr. 18 |
David McCoy 4 | Assists | Chris Clarke 6 |
Leonard Harper-Baker 9 | Rebounds | Chris Clarke 11 |
Tyler Stevenson 3 | Free Throws Made | Terrence Shannon Jr. 8 |
LaDavius Draine 2 | Steals | Kyler Edwards 2 |
Tyler Stevenson 2 | Blocks | TJ Holyfield 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Southern Miss | 65 | 47.3 | 5-16 | 8-12 | 11 | 27 | 3 | 5 | 16 |
Texas Tech | 71 | 37.5 | 5-22 | 24-27 | 10 | 28 | 3 | 7 | 12 |