Eastern Washington unable to complete upset in loss to Texas Tech 77-70
Dec. 13, 2022 Updated Tue., Dec. 13, 2022 at 9:55 p.m.
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Texas Tech pulled away late to defeat the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team 77-70 on Tuesday in nonconference play at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
The teams were tied at 29 at halftime and neither led by more than seven points all game. Senior Kevin Obanor made 8 of 15 field goals and 8 of 8 free throws to score a team-high 25 points for Texas Tech.
Eastern Washington made 11 of 28 3-pointers, led by a 5-for-11 night from sophomore Steele Venters, who finished with a game-high 26 points. It was the fourth time this season the Eagles made at least 10 3s in a game.
Senior Angelo Allegri scored 14 points for the Eagles and sophomore Ethan Price added 11. Sophomore Cedric Coward led the team with 11 rebounds and also had two of the Eagles’ five blocks.
Eastern led much of the first half, and the teams were tied as late as 8 minutes into the second half .
But after Texas Tech took the lead, a late offensive run never materialized for the Eagles, who turned the ball over 12 more times than the Red Raiders. Texas Tech also had 13 offensive rebounds to Eastern’s six.
“At the end of the day, we walked in here understanding that this is one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers and offensive rebounding,” EWU coach David Riley said in a postgame radio interview. “We had to have an extraordinary effort in those areas, and (unfortunately) it wasn’t quite good enough.”
Texas Tech (7-2) extended its home winning streak to 27 games, a stretch that includes a 78-46 victory over Eastern last season.
Eastern dropped to 4-7 overall with two nonconference games remaining, both at home next week. The Eagles play UC Davis at 1 p.m. Saturday and Northwest Indian College at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
They open Big Sky play at Montana on Dec. 29.
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