HOUSTON – 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) had a four-game winning streak snapped with the road loss and 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.

Jaylen Petty led the Red Raiders by matching a career-high with 20 points after going 5-for-9 on 3-pointers while JT Toppin recorded his fourth straight double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds along with matching a career-high with five blocked shots. Donovan Atwell added 13 points with three 3-pointers, LeJuan Watts had seven rebounds, five points and three assists while Christian Anderson 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Red Raiders fell to 0-2 on the road and to 1-2 against AP Top 10 opponents this season with the loss.

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