TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Texas Tech was determined to rally together after losing its best player.
Jaylen Petty scored 24 points, Christian Anderson added 18 and the fifth-seeded Red Raiders beat No. 12 seed Akron 91-71 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
Texas Tech (23-10) will face fourth-seeded Alabama in the second round in the Midwest Region on Sunday.
Playing without All-America guard JT Toppin, who tore the ACL in his right knee last month, Texas Tech got double-figure scoring from five players.
Josiah Moseley had 16 points, Donovan Atwell scored 15 and LeJuan Watts added 14.
“We just didn’t lose our intensity and competitiveness,” Petty said.
Moseley said that losing an elite player “could’ve caused a lot of teams to fall apart,” but the Red Raiders stayed together.
“Everyone knew they had to step up and push each other harder,” Moseley said.
Amani Lyles led Akron with 26 points and Shammah Scott had 20.
Akron (29-6) became first team to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament three straight years. But the Zips again failed to reach the second round in their eighth March Madness appearance.
“Tremendous respect for Coach (John) Groce for a great season,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “What an awesome team they have. One of the most fun teams I’ve ever scouted. The way they can put pressure on you with the way they score, their pace, their next action ability. We challenged our team to get better defensively and to finish with rebounds. We felt if we could take away rhythm 3s and rebound, we could win. We got some great contributions from different guys.”
Petty and Atwell opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers to give Texas Tech an 11-point lead.
Akron got within 64-60 midway through second after Eric Mahaffey scored on a layup and made a free throw to complete a three-point play. But the Zips couldn’t get any closer.
Anderson’s steal led to a fast-break dunk by Petty that put Texas Tech up 77-64. Petty then drilled a 3 to extend the lead to 16 points. He answered Sharron Young’s layup with another jumper and the Red Raiders cruised the rest of the way.
Akron didn’t score until Lyles hit a 3-pointer more than three minutes into the game. The teams combined to miss nine of their first 13 shots.
The Red Raiders built their biggest lead of the first half, 37-25, following an 8-0 run ignited by Petty’s driving layup. But Akron closed the half with a 10-3 run of its own to get within 40-35 at halftime.
Up next
Texas Tech aims to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
