Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas – Javarez Willis scored a game-high 15 points to lead four players in double figures and Texas Tech used a 7-0 run to start the second half and defeat Southeastern Louisiana, 62-54, in a nationally-televised game Friday night at United Spirit Arena.

Jordan Tolbert scored 11 points for Texas Tech (7-5), which improved to 6-0 at home this season, while Ty Nurse and Jaye Crockett scored 10 points each. The Red Raiders held Southeastern (5-6) to 15-for-53 from the floor (28.3 percent) while the Lions finished 19-for-37 (51.4 percent) from the free throw line.

“It is almost like a golf game,” Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said about the Lions' shooting woes. “As soon as you get one portion or something fixed the other part goes. It has been a problem for us all year. I think our rebounding has gotten in order, our front line is pretty solid in some ways but it still needs to get better.

“(Junior) Roosevelt Johnson, we have been working with very hard on free throw shooting and he goes 7-for-9 tonight and I thought he was exceptional from the line. No one, other than Roosevelt, seemed to have the touch tonight and it is very frustrating. You can't do anything about it, you emphasize it, you keep working on it, but the team was frustrated afterwards but it is those little things, it is execution and finishing off plays.”

The teams traded the leads three times early in the ballgame before a steal and dunk by Deshon Minnis gave Texas Tech a 7-6 lead with 16:37 left in the first half. The Red Raiders pushed their lead to 16-10 on a tip-in by Tolbert, who finished 5-for-7 from the floor but had his string of consecutive 20-point games snapped at four.

Southeastern closed to within 18-17 on a 3-pointer by Daron Populist with 7:47 remaining in the first half and the Lions closed to within one twice more – the last coming on a basket by Jan Petrovcic with 1:37 left that cut the Texas Tech lead to 27-26.

Crockett, who went 3-for-7 from the floor and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, answered with a three-point play that gave Texas Tech a 30-26 lead at halftime.

The Red Raiders pushed their lead to 37-26 with 16:13 remaining as Robert Lewandowski scored on a driving layup, Nurse drained a 3-pointer and Willis hit a jumper. Lewandowski, who finished with nine points before fouling out, gave the Red Raiders their biggest lead of the game when his 16-foot jumper gave Texas Tech a 47-33 lead with 10:30 left.

Southeastern got as close as 61-54 on a 3-pointer by Todd Nelson with 17 seconds remaining, but Minnis sealed the win for Texas Tech after making the second of two free throws six seconds later.

Populist, coming off the bench for the first time this season, led Southeastern with 10 points while Nelson added eight points in his first start of the year. Johnson scored all seven of his points from the free throw line for Southeastern while Quin Cooper also added seven.

Southeastern will continue its five-game roadtrip when it opens Southland Conference play on Wednesday at UT Arlington in a 7 p.m. contest at Texas Hall. The Lions will close out their roadtrip on Jan. 7 at Stephen F. Austin before returning home to host Champion Baptist (Ark.) on Jan. 10 at the University Center.