Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks vs Texas Tech Red Raiders Match Player Stats On Mar 15, 2018

Freshman guard Zhaire Smith recorded 10 points and eight rebounds as the third-seeded Red Raiders (25-9) closed with a 15-3 run. Evans made all 10 of his free-throw attempts and also contributed six rebounds and five assists.

Senior guard Ivan Canete scored 17 points and junior guard Shannon Bogues added 14 for the 14th-seeded Lumberjacks (28-7). Sophomore guard Kevon Harris had 12 points and junior forward TJ Holyfield added 10.

Texas Tech will face Florida in Saturday's second round.

The Red Raiders held a 41-31 rebounding advantage, but the biggest factor was the play of Evans, who took over in the second half.

"I owed it to my teammates and I owed it to myself," Evans said in a postgame interview on truTV. "Told you yesterday I'm going to take out anybody in my way, and I knew I had to do that for my team to win."

Stephen F. Austin finished the first half with a flourish and received 3-pointers from Canete, Holyfield and senior guard Ty Charles in the first 2:12 of the second half to take a 39-31 lead.

The Lumberjacks led 51-44 after a jumper by Harris with 10:24 to play before Texas Tech scored six straight to move within one. The Red Raiders finally tied the game 53 when senior forward Zach Smith split two free throws with 7:39 left.

Texas Tech took its first lead of the second half on Evans' layup with 3:52 left and Zhaire Smith delivered a dunk 39 seconds later to make it 61-58. Junior guard Brandone Francis buried a 3-pointer from the right corner to increase Texas Tech's to six with 2:30 remaining.

Evans later scored four straight points to push the lead 68-60 with 43.2 seconds left and senior guard Niem Stevenson completed the scoring with two free throws.

The Lumberjacks led most of the first half and took a 30-27 lead into the break when Harris drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

The Red Raiders used a 9-2 surge to take their first lead of the contest at 16-15. The spurt was capped by a tremendous play in which Evans spied Zhaire Smith from about 25 feet away and sent a lob toward the rim, with Smith making the catch in mid-air, rotating his body and slamming a ferocious dunk.

--Field Level Media