Toussaint scores 22 as West Virginia beats Texas Tech 76-61
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Joe Toussaint scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half, Seth Wilson hit a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 15 points and West Virginia beat Texas Tech 76-61 Wednesday night, the Red Raiders' eighth consecutive loss.
Erik Stevenson scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds — the fifth-year senior guard's first career double-double — for West Virginia (12-8, 2-6 Big 12).
West Virginia missed its first six shots and had four turnovers in the first four minutes of the game, when Texas Tech jumped ahead 8-0. Kevin Obanor scored the first six and then was fouled as he threw down a two-hand dunk and hit the and-1 free throw before Jaylon Tyson made a layup to give the Red Raiders a 15-5 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half.
Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins replaced his entire starting five, and West Virginia's play improved. Stevenson made four straight free throws, including two on a technical foul, for a 22-21 lead and Tre Mitchell's 3-pointer made it 33-28 at halftime.
Obanor led Texas Tech (10-10, 0-8) with 20 points and eight rebounds. De’Vion Harmon added 14. Pop Isaacs — who went into the game averaging 12.1 points this season and a team-high 15.8 in conference play — left the game early in the second half with an apparent ankle injury. The 6-foot-2 freshman elevated for a 3-point shot (which missed) and appeared to suffer a right ankle injury when he came down on the defenders foot. He remained down on the court for a couple minutes before being helped off the floor without putting any weight on it. He returned to the bench later in the game with a walking boot on his right foot.
Texas Tech is 1-9 this season against Power-5 teams. The Red Raiders beat Louisville 70-38 at the Maui Invitational in November.
West Virginia’s Kedrian Johnson, who reached 20 points in each of his two previous games, also was in street clothes for the latter part of the second half after a fall on the court. He was limited to four points in 15 minutes.
Wilson banked in a 3-pointer and then, after he missed a 3 from the right wing, chased down a loose-ball rebound on the other side of the floor and saved it from going out of bounds as he crashed into the bench, feeding it to Stevenson for a triple. Toussaint stole the ball from Texas Tech's Elijah Fisher about 20 seconds later and then missed from behind the arc but Wilson again grabbed an offensive rebound and this time found James Okonkwo in the paint, who finished through contact and converted the three-point play to West Virginia a 55-47 lead with nearly-nine minutes to play.
Tyson answered with a 3-pointer 15 seconds later but Stevenson hit a jumper and Toussaint made two pairs of free throws in a 6-0 spurt that stretched the advantage to 61-50 with six minutes remaining and the Red Raiders never again threatened.
West Virginia shot just 37% (19 of 51) from the field and committed 19 turnovers — one shy of its season high — but hit 10 3-pointersand made a season-best 28 free throws on 35 attempts.
The teams were called for a combined 48 fouls and attempted 58 total free throws.
UP NEXT
West Virginia returns home to in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday against No. 15 Auburn
Texas Tech plays Saturday at LSU in a Big 12/SEC Challenge game
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