Texas Tech builds second-half lead again, fails to hold on against No. 13 Kansas State

Hope was alive, for a fleeting moment.

The Texas Tech men’s basketball team appeared to be in position to not only secure its first win in Big 12 Conference play, but also garner its first win over a ranked opponent Saturday afternoon against No. 13 Kansas State with a two-possession lead at the midway point.

But, a double-digit run in the second half — despite De’Vion Harmon and Pop Isaacs chippin 13 points apiece — prevented the Red Raiders an upset as they suffered a 68-58 loss to the Wildcats inside Bramlage Coliseum In Manhattan, Kansas.

“I thought second half, they got away from us, a little bit, driving us,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said postgame. ”Well coached, got really good players and they know what to do. They made some big plays down the stretch when they needed it.”

The loss pushed Texas Tech (10-9, 0-7) to its worst start in conference since 2011-2012, while Kansas State (17-2, 6-1) continued its strong charge following a win over No. 2 Kansas earlier in the week.

For a time, the Red Raiders looked to be in a good position after Kevin Obanor (nine points, eight rebounds) netted his sixth three-pointer in conference and Pop Isaacs made a fastbreak layup to push the lead to 45-37 with 13:20 to go.

On the other side, KSU was in a scoring drought and looked out of sorts coming out of halftime trailing by five points (33-28).

Soon enough, Kansas State figured things out with an 11-0 offensive spurt — fueled by five points from Ismael Massoud and capped off with a pair of Keyontae Johnson layups to retake the lead at 48-45 with 10 minutes to play.

“We needed him,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said of Johnson, who finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds. “We told him, ‘Hey you need to be more aggressive,’ ... because him taking a tough shot is sometimes better than somebody taking an open shot.”

Isaacs drained a 3-pointer to knot the game up at 50-50 about a minute and a half later to get Texas Tech back into it.

But, once again, the Wildcats forged an 8-0 run to create separation on the way to their 11th victory at home.

“That’s what good teams do,” Adams said when asked of the 11-0 run by the Wildcats. ”Championship teams, they rally when they’re down. A lot of credit goes to the older guys. … They have have experienced guys and they know how important the last part of the game is. They executed, I thought, really well, getting the ball to the right people late in the game.”

After trailing 45-37, Kansas State closed out the final 13 minutes on a 31-13 run.

“I just try to come out and be aggressive ... just play my game,” said Nowell, who finished with a game-best 23 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists. “And when I did that, you know, shots was falling.”

For Texas Tech, which shot 27.5% in the second half, the squad dropped to 0-3 in conference play when holding a lead at halftime.

“This is the best league in the country,” Nowell said. “Every game is a game that you got to play tough and for 40 minutes. There’s no weak teams in this league.”

What’s next: Texas Tech is scheduled to host West Virginia at 6 p.m Wednesday. Kansas State is scheduled to take on Iowa State at 8 p.m Tuesday in Ames.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech builds second-half lead again, fails to hold on against No. 13 Kansas State