NCAA Game Summary - Texas Tech vs. Saint Joseph’s

Buffalo, NY (Basketball News) - Jameer Nelson scored 24 points to lead Saint Joseph’s over Texas Tech, 70-65, in second round action of the NCAA Tournament at HSBC Arena.

Delonte West added 15 points and Pat Carroll had 14 for the Hawks (29-1), who are seeded first in the East Rutherford bracket. Saint Joseph’s advanced to play Wake Forest in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. The fourth-seeded Demon Deacons edged out 12th-seeded Manhattan, 84-80 earlier Saturday.

Andre Emmett led the eighth-seeded Red Raiders (23-11) with 18 points, while Mikey Marshall and Devonne Giles netted 14 points each.

Texas Tech was able to erase a 60-53 deficit with seven straight points, all coming from the line, and the game was all square with five minutes to play.

From there, Carroll quickly untied it with a big three-pointer to ignite an 8-2 run, punctuated by five straight Nelson points, to staked the Hawks to a 68-62 lead with a minute remaining.

The Red Raiders couldn’t do much more as they missed six of their final seven shots.

The Hawks struggled to find their rhythm early as they made just four of their first 15 shots and trailed after Texas Tech notched nine straight points to assume a 21-12 advantage.

St. Joe’s, though, came back with a vengeance as West led the charge with nine straight points during a 12-0 burst, giving the Hawks a 24-21 edge just past the midway point of the opening half.

The Hawks were not finished as the Raiders kept settling for jump shots. After a Ronald Ross bucket cut it to one, St. Joe’s embarked on another 12-0 spurt behind seven points by Nelson. In all, it was a 24-2 explosion that put the top seed ahead by 15 at 36-23 with four minutes left.

Texas Tech started to patrol the offensive glass and work the ball inside, answering with four consecutive baskets, three on putbacks, to close out the half down by just five, 36-31.

West led all scorers with 13 points in the opening half, while Emmett’s eight led the Raiders.