Let the good times roll: De'Vion Harmon nets career-best 25 points as Texas Tech downs No. 6 Texas Longhorns
De'Vion Harmon didn't want to wait until the end of the game to celebrate Monday night.
The Texas Tech senior guard turned in one of his best offensive halves by pouring in 21 points in the first — entertaining and pumping up the crowd in the process — to help the Red Raiders take on No. 6 Texas in a crucial Big 12 Conference game.
Harmon, who hit a contested 3-point shot before the halftime buzzer, did plenty to draw cheers — including netting a career-best 25 capped off with a high-arching layup with 34 seconds, to help Texas Tech upset the Longhorns 74-67 inside United Supermarkets Arena.
"De'Vion had a great start for us," Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. "It kicked us off to say, 'Look, we can win this game.' He's a veteran and plays with a lot of confidence and wanted to win and made some big shots early and then again late like he always does.
"He was a good closer for us."
With the victory, Texas Tech (14-12, 3-10) has defeated Texas (21-5, 10-3) three of the last four times under Adams. It also marked the second straight win over a nationally-ranked opponent and third at home for TTU this season.
"We're a team that fights," said Kevin Obanor, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, of his team bouncing back. "Like coach (Adams) will use that analogy — it's like a boxing match.
"Eighteen rounds, you get beat up seven, eight times. But it speaks more to the character and the people that we are to get back up because I guarantee you a lot of teams would have folded. They would have cared about stats, and worry about going to the next level. They would have quit. ... Just playing with that urgency and that mindset, it just spreads throughout the locker room."
With a nine-point lead going into halftime, the Red Raiders appeared primed to keep that advantage but reverted back to some old ways due to some youthful mistakes that led to 12 turnovers.
Jaylon Tyson (five points, six rebounds) completed a three-point play to provide the Red Raiders a 47-35 lead at the 19:23 mark of the second half. A stepback jumper gave Texas Tech its largest lead of the game at 49-36 about one minute later.
That's when the Longhorns, the conference's oldest team in terms of experience, began to chip away at the deficit before the Red Raiders answered each time.
Obanor, who missed some game time after taking an arm to the face, drilled a jumper to give Texas Tech another 13-point lead, at 55-42, before UT found its shooting form.
Brock Cunningham started things off with a jumper before Marcus Carr poured in a pair of triples to fuel a 12-4 run that close the deficit to two possessions at 59-54 with 11:49 left in the contest.
A trio of treys by Carr (23 points), Tyrese Hunter (nine points) and Dylan Disu (11 points, nine rebounds) knotted things up at 64-64 with 4:16 to play.
"Carr is just one of the best players in the league, scores at all three levels," Adams said. "We were just trying to limit him. ... We just didn't want three or four of their scorers to get in double figures."
Texas Tech, which had not scored in about four minutes, forged a 6-0 run with Obanor providing four points including an alley-oop dunk that brought the crowd to a fever pitch with 2:28 until the buzzer.
It was a drama-filled last two minutes that included Cunningham getting a layup with 22 seconds left blocked by Aimaq, who played in his second straight game after missing the previous five due to a bruised foot, preserving the Red Raiders 72-67 advantage.
"We got a great look, Brock usually makes that for us," Texas interim coach Rodney Terry said of the inbound play. "Our guys had great effort. I mean, we out ourselves to be in position to win this game."
It was almost a replay of the first installment, which saw the Red Raiders squander a 10-point, second-half lead en route to falling by two points back on Jan. 14 in Austin. Instead, Robert Jennings secured an offensive rebound that got to Obanor who made a 3-pointer for a 29-28 advantage with 3:34 left in the first half — which was never relinquished.
"Right now, I'm feeling pretty good," said Aimaq, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. "I don't know if that's me going off adrenaline or what. But, body feels good. It's just about trying to manage what I do with recovery and stuff like that."
Injury updates
Daniel Batcho emerged pregame with a walking boot on his right foot Monday. The sophomore forward, whose struggled to stay in the lineup due to wrist, knee, a broken finger on his right hand and an illness, is dealing with nagging foot and ankle pain per his head coach.
"Just playing with a lot of pain," Adams said. "He's got ankle, foot problem. We'll just wait and see. But I'm hopeful he'll be ready for West Virginia."
Another sign of good things to come is Pop Isaacs, who was not wearing a walking boot pregame. The freshman guard's playing status is still up in the air, but Adams was coy when asked if he could suit up at West Virginia on Saturday.
"Possibly. Maybe so," Adams said. "He's getting there."
What's next: Texas Tech is scheduled to take on West Virginia at 11 a.m. Saturday and is set to be broadcast on ESPNU. No. 6 Texas Tech is slated to host Oklahoma at 1 p.m. Saturday.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: De'Vion Harmon nets career-best 25 as Texas Tech downs No. 6 Texas Longhorns
