Syracuse, NY – Syracuse basketball plays Texas Tech on Friday night at Barclays Center.
The Orange and Red Raiders meet in the consolation game of the Legends Classicscheduled for 7 p.m., and airing on ESPNU.
It marks the first meeting between the two teams.
Texas Tech (4-1) lost to St. Joseph’s after, like Syracuse, erasing a 16-point deficit before falling late.
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Erik Reynolds II sank six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, but it was Justice Ajogbor’s free throw with 13.7 seconds left that gave Saint Joseph’s a 78-77 victory over Texas Tech on Thursday night in the UKG Legends Classic.
The Hawks (4-1) take on Texas, a 70-66 winner over Syracusein Friday’s championship game.
Texas Tech came into Thursday night’s game having made 45.1% of its three-point shots on this young season.
But the Red Raiders struggled from distance with the Hawks, shooting just 4-for-20 from 3.
Reynolds made 6 of 11 from the arc. Xzayvier Brown scored 20 points on just 3 of 10 shooting, but made all 13 free throws. Rasheer Fleming added 14 points before fouling out with four minutes to go. The Hawks made 12 of 22 three-point attempts.
JT Toppin scored 22 points and had a career-high 18 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive glass for Texas Tech. Darrion Williams scored 18 points and Chance McMillian 17 for the Red Raiders, who outscored Saint Joseph 44-28 but made just four of 20 3-point attempts.
There were five lead changes and five draws in the final seven minutes before Ajogbor went to the line with a draw. Ajogbor, a sub-50% free throw shooter this season, missed the first, but after a timeout he zoomed in the second. Williams missed a jumper in the paint as the game ended.
Texas Tech, which trailed by 10 at halftime, got four points from Toppin in an early 8-0 burst to get within three and stay on the Hawks’ heels. A three-point play by McMillian with under seven minutes remaining gave the Raiders their first lead since the game’s opening basket.
The Hawks held a 16-point lead before the Red Raiders closed the first half with six straight points in the final two minutes to trail 45-35.
Information from the Associated Press was used for this report
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