Kevin Obanor, De'Vion Harmon each net 22 as Texas Tech routs Houston Christian before Christmas

De’Vion Harmon was in a hurry Wednesday afternoon.

A few moments after his postgame press conference, the Texas Tech senior guard politely said he had a flight to catch and zipped out as quick as he could.

Truth be told, Harmon used the same speed earlier in the day — which helped him pour in 22 points to go with a career-best nine assists — while Kevin Obanor added 22 points and nine rebounds and Daniel Batcho returned after missing two games due to injury to record his third double-double to power the Red Raiders to a 111-67 win over Houston Christian inside United Supermarkets Arena.

The victory, four days prior to Christmas, was a welcome present for the players and coaching staff as Texas Tech (9-2) increased its winning streak to five games and notched the program’s second straight 100-point outing — marking the first time that has occurred since 1996 — by downing the Huskies (3-10).

“Just pushing the pace, which the coaching staff has been saying, preaching to me — just pushing the pace, get the ball in transition and let’s run,” Harmon said when asked of his first 20-plus point outing of the season and eighth double-figure game. ”I think I’ve been blessed with the ability to get up and down the floor and be super fast. So I use that to my strength, and it worked out good.”

That it did.

The Huskies appeared to be clawing their way back into contest, following a Brycen Long layup to close the gap to within two possessions at 12-6 with 15:48 left in the first half.

But, the Red Raiders — a youthful squad, which has learned to not allow teams to hang around such as Nicholls — forged a key 7-0 run that pushed their advantage to double figures at 19-6 a minute later.

Andrew King split a pair of free throws to end the surge, but the Red Raiders engineered a 13-3 run — capped off by a Pop Isaacs three-pointer — to push the lead to a first-half high of 22 at 32-10 and never looked back.

“I mean, you’re going to have maybe a game where you go out and can’t miss and everything’s going right. And you’ll have a game where you don’t know what’s going on,” Harmon said when asked what’s changed on offense with two straight 100-point outputs. ”But it’s all about staying positive, staying in the moment. That’s why you have teammates, everybody has each other’s back on this team and that’s why we’re gonna continue to succeed.”

Harmon provided 13 points, while Jaylon Tyson chipped in nine of his 11 points in the first half to give Texas Tech a 49-28 advantage at the midway point. More important was the production from the bench as KJ Allen and Batcho combined for 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

Batcho, who who returned after nursing an ankle sprain, finished with a double-double performance of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Allen chipped in all six of his points in the first, while Robert Jennings and Kerwin Walton added eight points apiece in a game where every player that logged minutes scored at least two points.

"To heck with defense, we're going to try to hit the century mark every time," Texas Tech coach Mark Adams quipped following his squad’s 44-point win. "We've said all along that shooting could be a strength of this team. We pushed the ball and played with pace. Our motto is, 'Together, We Attack'. We want to be aggressive on both ends and our guys are starting to buy into that."

The second half was much of the same as Harmon and Obanor continued to find the bottom of the net, while their teammates found easy baskets thanks in part to creating 24 turnovers — the second straight game the Red Raiders have notched 20 or more turnovers — that led to 35 points.

Long finished with 21 points, while Bonke Maring tallied 13 points to round out the double-digit scorers for the Huskies.

“That’s super important,” Harmon said of the bench putting up 42 points — one game after amassing 56 in a win over Jackson State. ”We can be a team with a really good bench — get a lot of action, gets some some points and get some stops on defense from our bench. We can be a dangerous team.

“We also know that a team that goes far (in the postseason), the bench is just important as a starters. Just gotta keep that going.”

What's next: Texas Tech is scheduled to host South Carolina State at 7 p.m. Dec. 27 in the final nonconference contest before the start of the Big 12 Conference schedule. The Red Raiders are slated to take on No. 20 TCU at 11 a.m. Dec. 31 in Fort Worth.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Kevin Obanor, De'Vion Harmon each net 22 as Texas Tech routs Houston Christian before Christmas