HOUSTON \u2013 No. 14 Texas Tech led for the majority of the second half in a game with seven lead changes and six ties but couldn’t hold off No. 7 Houston which secured a 69-65 win on Tuesday at the Fertitta Center. The Red Raiders (11-4, 1-1 Big 12) will now continue their two-game road trip by playing at Colorado at 6 p.m. (CST) on Saturday in Boulder, Colorado while the Cougars (14-1, 2-0 Big 12) play at Baylor.<\/p>\n
Jaylen Petty<\/a> led the Red Raiders with 20 points after going 5-for-9 on 3-pointers while JT Toppin<\/a> recorded his fourth straight double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds along with matching a career-high with five blocked shots. Donovan Atwell<\/a> added 13 points with three 3-pointers, LeJuan Watts<\/a> had seven rebounds, five points and three assists while Christian Anderson<\/a> led Tech with seven assists and scored seven points. Toppin, who now has nine double-doubles this season and 40 in his career, was 9-for-14 from the field and had two offensive rebounds.<\/p>\n Texas Tech finished the game shooting 9-for-28 on 3-pointers and was 10-of-11 at the free-throw line but couldn’t overcome 14 turnovers that led to a 13-4 scoring advantage by Houston off turnovers. The Red Raiders shot 41.1% from the field but saw the Cougars own a 28-20 scoring advantage in the paint and make 17-of-22 free throws to overcome making only four 3-pointers.<\/p>\n Kingston Flemings led Houston with 23 points and five assists while Emanuel Sharp scored 17 and Joseph Tugler and Chris Cenac each had double-doubles. Tugler finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Cenac had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Houston finished the game shooting 24-for-61 (39.3%) from the field, 4-of-17 (23.5%) on 3-pointers and was 17-of-22 at the free-throw line. The Cougars improved to 8-0 at home with the win. q<\/p>\n Tech went on a 9-0 run and led 44-41 on a Toppin floater and went up 49-45 when Petty buried his fifth 3-pointer. Atwell would knock down two 3-pointers in a row to give the Red Raiders a 55-49 lead before Houston mounted a comeback and took the lead back with a Flemings 3-pointer to make it 60-59. A free throw by Watts tied the game at 60 before Flemings hit a jumper to regain the lead and then buried another 3-pointer for a 66-62 lead with 30 seconds to play. Anderson would hit a last second 3 for Tech to make it the four-point final.<\/p>\n Tech and Houston were tied at 31 going into halftime with the Red Raiders owning a 21-17 rebounding advantage and making five 3-pointers to the Cougars going just 2-for-9 from deep. Petty led the Red Raiders with 14 points after going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers while Toppin went into the break with six points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Atwell had five points with one 3-pointer and Anderson led Tech with five assists and also had two points. Tech took a 3-0 lead to start the game on a Petty 3-pointer and was up 19-18 on his second. Houston went on a 7-0 run before a Petty jumper stopped it and cut a UH lead to 25-21. Petty’s third 3 made it 29-26 and his fourth would tie the game at 31-all going to the break. Tech overcame seven turnovers that led to eight points for the Cougars. Sharp led UH with 11 points while Flemings had eight after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n The Red Raiders fell to 0-2 on the road and to 1-2 against AP Top 10 opponents this season with the loss.<\/p>\n Follow the Red Raiders:\u00a0Keep up with Texas Tech men’s basketball news at\u00a0TexasTech.com<\/a>\u00a0and at the team’s social media on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n