Abilene Christian Wildcats vs Texas Tech Red Raiders Match Player Stats On Dec 09, 2020

Familiarity is known to be contemptuous, and in the case of Texas Tech, it was the cause for a major scare Wednesday night.

Abilene Christian came to Lubbock and threw a major scare into the 17th-ranked Red Raiders before two steals in the final 90 seconds, along with a key offensive rebound and a handful of timely late free throws, doomed the feisty Wildcats.

Texas Tech logged a 51-44 victory despite giving up a comfortable halftime lead and finishing with more turnovers (16) than made field goals (12).

Kyler Edwards led the Red Raiders (5-1) with 19 points and seven rebounds while Nimari Burnett scored 10, bolstered by an 8-for-10 performance at the foul stripe. Coryon Mason paced ACU (5-1) with 14 points.

The Wildcats shrugged a dismal first half when they trailed 23-14 by cranking up their defense and matching the Red Raiders blow-for-blow by playing an almost identical and intense style.

Mason knotted the score at 27 with a pair of free throws with 12:44 left in the second half, and ACU crept in front 36-35 on his follow slam-dunk with 8:56 to go.

Fighting back was a slow process for the Red Raiders, largely because of their offensive misery. They shot just 27.9 percent (12 of 43) from the floor and connected on only 2-of-15 from 3-point range.

Edwards made the second of two free throws to even the score at 36 and after that Texas Tech built a cushion with a 9-3 run over 4:45.

ACU had a chance to send the game down to the wire, but Texas Tech's Jamarius Burton knocked the ball loose for steal. Mac McClung misfired from outside the arc late in the ensuing possession, but Edwards corralled the rebound, got fouled and hit both shots for a 48-42 lead with 46 seconds left.

McClung came up with the second takeaway on ACU's next offensive trip -- the Wildcats' 22nd turnover -- and the Red Raiders managed to seal the victory from the stripe.

Texas Tech built the first-half lead despite shooting just 32 percent (8 of 25) and losing the ball eight times. The Wildcats were worse on offense with 13 turnovers and only five makes from the floor in 21 tries.

--Field Level Media