Texas Tech Red Raiders vs Texas Christian Horned Frogs Match Player Stats On Mar 02, 2019

Visiting Texas Tech took another big step toward its first Big 12 Conference regular-season championship Saturday by weathering TCU's second-half comeback bid on the way to an 81-66 victory.

The No. 11 Red Raiders (24-5, 12-4 Big 12) are tied with Kansas State atop the conference standings with two games to go: at home vs. Texas on Monday and at Iowa State next Saturday.

Jarrett Culver and Davide Moretti paced Tech with 15 points apiece, while Tariq Owens was dominant in the first half on the way to 12 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Deshawn Corprew came off the Red Raiders' bench for 12 points, including five in a row after the Horned Frogs trimmed an 18-point halftime deficit to 46-39.

Culver also recorded seven of the Raiders' 22 assists on 33 made field goals, while Matt Mooney chipped in with six and Moretti had five.

JD Miller and Alex Robinson led TCU (18-11, 6-10) with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Those two helped fuel the early second-half charge.

TCU began the second half with a 10-0 run, hitting 4 of 6 floor shots and two early 3-pointers after going just for 3-for-10 from outside the arc in the initial 20 minutes.

The Raiders regained their footing, thanks to Corprew, by continuing to share the ball well and shooting at a solid clip. Tech finished at 56.9 percent (33 of 58).

Mooney followed Corprew's burst with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 54-39 and TCU never got closer than 11 the rest of the game.

Led by Corprew and Brandone Francis with nine points, Tech secured a commanding 24-0 edge in bench points.

The first half gave no hint that the Raiders would have to sweat much. They built a double-digit lead in the opening nine minutes and nudged it to 31-11 with 6:51 to go before halftime.

Paced by Owens, who had 10 points and seven rebounds in the opening period, Tech shot at a sizzling 61.3 percent clip in the half with 13 assists - six from Culver.

The Frogs, meanwhile, were out of sync from the jump and made only 8 of 28 field goals (28.6 percent). They didn't record their first assist of the game until 16 minutes had elapsed.

--Field Level Media