Texas Tech Red Raider Basketball (8-7, 0-2) erased an eleven-point second half deficit to force overtime before falling to West Virginia (10-5, 2-0) 89-86 Monday night at the United Spirit Arena.

Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith was wistful as he recounted the game, "Once again, we had some opportunities, but a team like West Virginia, and coach (Bob) Huggins, out-coached us, outplayed us down the stretch. It's what winning teams do, they make winning plays and make winning stops.

"I gotta give our guys a lot of credit," Smith continued. "They battled back, they didn't give up. They fought hard. I'm glad to see Jordon (Tolbert) step up and play well tonight."

The Mountaineers had control of the first half, at one point having a nine point lead, before settling with a 39-33 lead at the break.  Juwan Staten led West Virginia in scoring the whole way, getting 11 points in the first half and a total of 25 for the game.  Eron Harris made three, three-pointers as he contributed 18 points and Terry Henderson had 16 points.

After the break, West Virginia extended their lead to 11, 44-33 with 18:44 left in the second half.  At that point Texas Tech began to chip away at the lead. Dusty Hannahs then single-handedly took over the scoring for the Red Raiders at the 15:00 mark.  Hannahs made a three-pointer to cut the WVU lead down to seven.  Less then 30 seconds later he grabbed a rebound off a missed Robert Turner lay-up and made the put-back to cut the lead down to five.

Hannahs ended up scoring 10 consecutive points for the Red Raiders as the WVU lead was now 53-50 with 12:27 left in the second half.

Two Jordon Tolbert free throws cut the Mountaineer lead down to one, but Texas Tech wasn't able to get over the hump, as far as taking back the lead.

With almost five minutes left in the second half, WVU extended their lead to five at 66-61. A three pointer from Jaye Crockett and two free throws from Hannahs got the Red Raiders within two at 68-66.  Crockett then made a jumper with 3:55 left to tie the game at 68.

The see-saw battle continued as the teams tied again at 72 with 1:58 left in the second half.

West Virginia then took a 74-72 lead on a Brandon Watkins lay-up, but the lead was lost two baskets later as a Jordan Tolbert lay-up put the Red Raiders up 75-74. Two free throws by Robert Turner extended Tech's lead at 77-74 with 27 seconds left.

West Virginia then brought the ball up the floor and Terry Henderson was able to get open behind the arc to make a game-tying three pointer.  Hannahs missed a long, 25-foot three pointer with four seconds left and the game moved to overtime, tied at 77.

Overtime belonged to WVU as they took a 78-77 lead at the 3:56 mark and held on to their lead for the rest of the game.

Texas Tech cut the WVU lead down to one three separate times in overtime, but they were unable to to take back the lead.  Crockett missed a game-tying three pointer with two seconds left in overtime and the game ended with West Virginia winning 89-86.

Tolbert led the Red Raiders with a double-double, 18 points and 12 rebounds.  Toddrick Gotcher had 17 points and Hannahs came off the bench and scored 14 points, all coming in the second half and overtime.

WVU beat Texas Tech in points in the paint, 40-34 and points off turnovers, 16-6.

The Red Raiders next game is Saturday night at the Texas Longhorns.  The game tips off at 7p and will be televised on the Longhorn Network.

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