No. 15 Texas holds off 11-point, one-player scoring spurt to beat Texas Tech 71-67

No. 15 Texas hangs on to beat Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas — Gary Johnson scored a career-high 22 points to lead No. 15 Texas to a 71-67 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday.

The Longhorns (21-6, 7-5 Big 12) led by 13 points in the second half then held off a late-game surge by Nick Okorie, who scored 11 straight points for the Red Raiders to pull them within 69-67 with 58 seconds remaining in the game.

J’Covan Brown made two free throws with 4 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Okorie finished with 21 points for the Red Raiders (16-10, 4-8).

Damion James added 12 points and 10 rebounds for Texas, which had lost six of its last nine games since moving to No. 1 for the first time in school history.

Jon Roberson, the Red Raiders’ second-leading scorer, was held to two points.

Okorie started his 11-point spurt with Texas leading 67-56. He made two layups and a 3-pointer to pull Texas Tech within 67-63 with 2:49 remaining. James answered with a basket and Okorie’s three-point play with 1:54 remaining made it 69-66 and was Texas center Dexter Pittman’s fifth foul.

Texas turned it over and Okorie missed his next shot but was fouled. He made the front end of a 1-and-1 to make 69-67 with just under a minute remaining.

Okorie fouled James and he missed both his free throws. Okorie missed a jumper before D’wayln Roberts fouled Brown, who made both free throws.

Pittman, who left the game for about 5 minutes in the first half after James inadvertently hit him in the head under Texas’ basket, scored the Longhorns’ first five points of the second half.

Up 47-39, Texas got a six-point spurt within as many seconds. Pittman got fouled by Darko Cohadarevic and officials called it intentional.

Texas Tech coach Pat Knight erupted off the bench, went out on the court and was hit with a technical foul. Brown hit both free throws for the technical, Pittman made his two and Avery Bradley had a tip-in on the Longhorns’ retaining possession because of the technical.

Texas pulled the Red Raiders defense away from the basket early in the game, hitting 5 of 9 from 3-point range in the first 7 minutes. The Longhorns didn’t try another 3 the rest of the first half. They scored 18 points in the paint and led 37-30 at halftime.

Texas lost starting guard Dogus Balbay for the game early in the first half. He appeared to slip and injure his left knee before being called for traveling. He did not put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.