NCAAB Game Recap - Texas Tech at West Virginia

Sat Feb 18, 2017 2:00 PM EST

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) West Virginia's Jevon Carter and Tarik Phillip weren't in the mood for another debilitating loss after the Mountaineers let a late lead slip away at the end of regulation for the second straight game.

Carter scored the go-ahead basket in the second overtime, and Phillip had six of his 15 points after regulation to help No. 9 West Virginia beat Texas Tech 83-74 on Saturday.

Unlike an overtime loss at No. 3 Kansas on Monday after the Mountaineers blew a big lead, West Virginia got the momentum back with some help from Texas Tech, which went scoreless for more than 4 minutes spanning both overtimes.

"We've been in this position all year," said Carter, who finished with a season-high 24 points. "All of our losses have been close games. We just kept going after them. We just kept attacking."

West Virginia (21-6, 9-5 Big 12) outscored Texas Tech 13-4 in the second overtime.

"We just weren't going to let this game slip away," Phillip said. "It was a matter of getting stops. We got stops when we needed them."

Texas Tech (17-10, 5-9) went cold from the field in both overtimes and wasted solid efforts from Keenan Evans and Niem Stevenson.

Evans tied a career high with 28 points and Stevenson added 17, although he went scoreless after halftime.

Texas Tech came from seven points down to send the game into overtime tied at 64. Evans scored nine points in the final 1:11, including a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left. He then made four free throws in overtime, but Carter's free throw with 19.9 seconds left sent the game into the second overtime.

BIG PICTURE

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders had a chance to cap off a huge week after beating No. 4 Baylor on Monday. Instead, Texas Tech still doesn't have a road win over a ranked team to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Red Raiders slipped to 1-7 in road contests.

"Whether we do our part and have a resume worthy is yet to be determined, but you guys saw it," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "We have a good team."

West Virginia: The Mountaineers won their first overtime game in four tries this season. They blew a 14-point lead in the final 3 minutes of regulation before losing in overtime at Kansas. This win has to give them a small sense of relief.

KEY STRETCH

Carter alertly threaded the Texas Tech defense for a layup 5 seconds into the second overtime and West Virginia led the rest of the way. Daxter Miles Jr. then got the sellout crowd roaring when he scored on a wild tip-in, and a minute later he dunked off a miss by Nathan Adrian.

MACON THE DIFFERENCE

West Virginia outrebounded Texas Tech 43-30, due in large part to Elijah Macon. Macon had a season-high 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

"He's the difference maker," Beard said. "We got pounded on the boards tonight and I think he was the lead person in that effort for them. He's another one of Coach Huggins' really aggressive, hard-playing guys that fits their mold. We had a lot of respect for him coming into the game and even more now."

Bob Huggins said, "That's the Elijah Macon that everybody thought we recruited."

UNFRIENDLY OVERTIME

Texas Tech shot 58 percent (25 of 41) from the field in regulation, then shot 13 percent (2 of 15) in the two overtimes.

FOUL DIFFERENTIAL

After getting outscored badly from the free throw line in its two previous games, West Virginia outscored Texas Tech 24-13 from the line. West Virginia was called for 19 fouls against the Red Raiders, compared with 31 against Kansas on Monday and 30 against Kansas State a week ago.

UP NEXT:

Texas Tech hosts Iowa State on Monday

West Virginia hosts Texas on Monday.

---

More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25