Red Raiders beat Tigers with free throws

By Sam Wilson

Published Jan. 25, 2008

Texas Tech senior guard Martin Zeno scored 19 points on Wednesday night against Missouri — and that was just at the free throw line. In total, Zeno scored a career-high of 33 points in the Red Raiders' 92-84 win against the Tigers at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas.

Texas Tech had 50 attempts at the free throw line as the Tigers' fouling woes continued. Zeno led the charge, approaching the line 24 times. The Red Raiders converted 36 of those 50 attempts to finish at 72 percent.

"We just let them get a half-step around us," sophomore guard J.T. Tiller said.

By comparison, the Tigers shot 80 percent at the free throw line. However, MU only had 15 attempts.

Texas Tech also had an edge over the Tigers in shooting from the field. The Red Raiders shot 68.2 percent from the field in the second half to finish the game at 56.5 percent from the field. The Red Raiders also shot 57.1 percent from behind the arc. MU shot 45.2 percent from the field, 27.3 percent on 3-point shots. Tiller said the team just had an off night shooting the ball, similar to Saturday's game against Kansas.

"We just had two off-games," he said. "We're going to bounce back, we've just got to stay mentally focused."

Led by junior forward DeMarre Carroll's nine rebounds, the Tigers out-rebounded the Red Raiders 38-27.

Tiller said the team did not take full advantage of the rebounding edge.

"I think we just saw it too late," he said. "Before you knew it, the game was over and we had a missed opportunity."

The Tigers turned the ball over 21 times compared to the Red Raiders' total of 17.

"We were just careless with the ball at some times," Tiller said.

Lawrence led the Tigers with 24 points. Senior guard Stefhon Hannah was second on the team with 17.

The game featured eight ties and six lead changes. The Tigers led 40-37 at halftime. But when Zeno hit a jumper with 13:14 to go in the game, the Red Raiders gained a 57-55 lead they would never relinquish.

A Lawrence 3-pointer with 44 seconds to go cut the Red Raider lead to 85-81. But with the Tigers forced to foul, Texas Tech finished seven for eight at the line to seal the deal. Zeno was responsible for five of those makes.

Missouri slips to 1-3 in Big 12 play. It is in a four-way tie for eighth place in the conference. Next, the team will go on the road to play at 3 p.m. Saturday against Colorado, another team with a 1-3 Big 12 mark. The Tigers are 11-8 overall.