LUBBOCK, Texas -- Robert Turner connected on his first five 3-point attempts and scored 21 points to lead Texas Tech to an 88-68 win over Northern Arizona on Monday night.
Dusty Hannahs added 14 points, with four 3-pointers of his own, and Jordan Tolbert added 14 points and seven rebounds. Jaye Crockett added 12 points.
Max Jacobsen led Northern Arizona with 15 points and seven rebounds and Quinton Upshur added 14 points for the Lumberjacks.
The Red Raiders shot 55 percent from the 3-point line -- a major improvement from the 17.6 percent they shot against Houston Baptist on Friday night - compared to just 29 percent by NAU.
After trailing until tying the game at 18-18, NAU (1-1) took its largest lead of the night, 24-20, with 8:41 left in the first half but the Red Raiders (2-0) fought back and led by as many as 28 points in the second half.
"I was proud of how we competed against Texas Tech," Lumberjacks coach Jack Murphy said. "After some foul trouble we had to play some people out of position, but we grinded it out. Our defense has to keep improving and we have to defend the three-point shot better. All of guys kept playing and we were able to close the gap at the end."
The Red Raiders struck first and took an early 10-5 lead when Turner hit his first 3-pointer 2 minutes into the game and kept the lead for more than 10 minutes, until Aaseem Dixon hit the first two of three free throw attempts to tie it 18-18.
NAU pulled down the board on his miss and got it back in Dixon's hands for a Lumberjack 3-pointer. Moments later, NAU took its largest lead of the night 20-24 with 8:41 to go in the first half.
Tolbert picked up a technical foul with 6:20 to go in the first half by muscling himself up above the rim following a two-handed slam that regained the lead for the Red Raiders 27-26.
From there, the Red Raiders got it into gear as Turner continued to strike from beyond the arc, helping Texas Tech carry a 42-35 lead into halftime.
After the half, the Red Raiders came out with the intention of putting the game away and opened up on a 12-2 run, led by a pair of 3s and another field goal by Hannahs. This extended the lead to 14, 54-37, with 16:24 left in the second half and the Lumberjacks would never cut it to less than 11 points.
Senior Jaye Crockett added 12 points and four rebounds for the Red Raiders and worked with Tolbert to dominate points in the paint 43 to 24.
Hannahs had the hot hand in the second half, but fellow Red Raiders Stan Mays, Toddrick Gotcher and Jamal Williams all dropped 3s of their own as Tech shot 12 of 22 on the night from long-range.
Texas Tech would build its lead even further, stretching it to as many as 28 points with 4:31 left in the game on an Alex Foster field goal.
