Texas Tech Tops South Dakota State 68-54

LUBBOCK (AP) - Jordan Tolbert opened up his game and even hit two shots from the perimeter on his way to a game-high 19 points, igniting Texas Tech to a 68-54 win over South Dakota State on Thursday night.

The Red Raiders led the entire game.

"It gives me a lot of confidence," Tolbert said. "It makes me comfortable that I can shoot a lot more during the season."

Tolbert, who's known more for his inside game on both ends of the court, connected on 2-of-3 3-pointers in the first half and added nine rebounds on the night.

"He's just a load," South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy said. "The first half, he hits two 3s and we're just going to have to live with that. I thought the second half we did a pretty good job on him. He got loose for I think six straight baskets at the end of the first half."

Dusty Hannahs added 12 points and hit on all nine free throw attempts and Jaye Crockett had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Brayden Carlson led South Dakota State with 14 points, hitting 4-of-11 3-pointers, and Cody Larson added 12 points.

The Red Raiders got out to a quick lead with four points from Dejan Kravic and added to it piece by piece. The Jackrabbits cut it to six at 56-50 with 5:48 left in the game on a Carlson 3-pointer but Hannahs responded with one of his own to help Tech run away with it.

"That shot was huge," Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith said. "It broke the momentum that they had.

"In a game like that where they're making a comeback, where you're not shooting as well as you like from the outside, when they're taller and bigger than we are, shot selection becomes critical."

The Red Raiders (4-1) dominated SDSU (1-4) in points in the paint, 33 to 18, and scored 22 points off of turnovers compared with seven for SDSU.

South Dakota State hit just 20.7 percent (6 of 29) of its 3-point attempts, while the Red Raiders hit five in just 11 attempts.

"You're not going to win going 6 of 29 for three," Nagy said. "We thought coming in this year we'd be a great 3-point shooting team and we've been awful, about as bad as I can imagine."

As a team, Texas Tech shot 13 of 15 from the free throw line, an area that has been a concern for the team so far this season.

"That's an area we've been struggling with," Smith said. "Only four guys shot free throws. I guess the right guys shot free throws tonight. That's probably why."

True freshman guard Randy Onwuasor was responsible for both of the Red Raiders misses at the line, but he's a player that Smith said has come a long way and will continue to factor in this season.

"He's athletic," Smith said. "Randy was physically ready to play at this level, coming out of the high school league he played in in Inglewood (Calif.). He understands. He's got an excellent feel for the game, good vision. He's really getting better every game."

Hannahs, who was also perfect from the line Monday night when he scored 19 points, has now hit 15 consecutive free throws.

Crockett and Kader Tapsoba had a minor collision when both went up for a rebound with 4:29 left in the first half. Crockett left the game with a minor hand injury but returned minutes later.

The Red Raiders went into the half with a 38-30 lead and picked up right where they left off after the break. The Jacks defenders closed in on a would-be fast-break layup by Robert Turner, but Tolbert was handy to answer with a one-handed slam and keep the momentum rolling.

Crockett had three steals on the night and the Red Raiders had 10 as a team. Tapsoba followed up on his four-block game on Monday night with three more big blocks for Tech against South Dakota State.

"Kader has always been just an aggressive player," Tolbert said. "He's defense-minded. Every day in practice I try to go at him and I know he's going to come back at me."

Chad White scored 11 points on the night and became the 44th player to score more than 1,000 points in his career in Division I basketball history.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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