Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Texas Tech used a 15-9 run over the final 6:30 to defeat West Virginia 78-72 at a sold-out WVU Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
 
Two Red Raiders players who were non-factors in West Virginia's 15-point victory in Lubbock last month were big factors today.
 
Fardaws Aimaq, a 6-foot-10, 245-pound senior center, didn't play the first time against WVU while freshman guard Pop Isaacs got injured early in the second half and didn't finish the game. Aimaq scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Isaacs contributed 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, the two tallying 19 of Texas Tech's 44 second half points.
 
Texas Tech's big gun this afternoon was 6-foot-7 guard Jaylon Tyson, who scored a team-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting. The Red Raiders' dominance this afternoon came in the paint where they outscored the Mountaineers 42-18 and outrebounded them 39-28.
 
Texas Tech also outscored West Virginia 23-11 in fastbreak points and had a 14-7 advantage in free throws.
 
Despite its interior woes, WVU led 35-34 at halftime and overcame a three-point deficit by going on an 11-0 run, keyed by Erik Stevenson's back-to-back 3s and Mohamed Wague's follow-up basket, making it 63-55 with 8:41 left.
 
Stevenson came out of the game to get a quick rest and by the time he reentered two minutes later, the game was tied. He hit a 3 to re-tie the game at 66, but missed his next four field goal attempts, including a 3 from the wing with 39 seconds left that would have given the Mountaineers the lead.
 
Prior to that, Tre Mitchell had a wide-open look at the foul line, but the ball slipped out of his hands as he was attempting to shoot a jump shot.

"We got very careless, and we lost our intensity, particularly defensively, once we got up," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
 
Texas Tech used a zone defense for a portion of the second half, copying what Baylor did successfully against the Mountaineers in Waco earlier this week. The zone resulted in a couple of critical turnovers leading to run-out baskets. The biggest West Virginia gaffe was an unforced one, though, when an inbounds pass went awry and bounced out of bounds while the Mountaineers were trying to call a timeout. 
 
"You grab the ball and throw it out of bounds? That's like mind boggling to me that you do that," Huggins said. 
 
West Virginia missed all six field goal attempts over the final 3:17 of the game. There were 23 lead changes and 10 ties this afternoon.
 
Stevenson finished with 27 while Kedrian Johnson contributed 20 for the Mountaineers. Those two were a combined 17-of-34 from the floor while the rest of the team finished 10-of-28. 
 
The six interior guys who got onto the floor today for West Virginia were just 6-of-17 for 15 points.
 
"We stand at the free throw line and don't block anybody out and just watch them rebound it … it's hard to understand," Huggins said. "We don't block out. We just stand there and watch. I don't know how or why that could possibly happen, as much time as we spend on it."
 
Today's loss significantly harms West Virginia's NCAA Tournament hopes. WVU came into this afternoon with great computer numbers but drops to 15-12 overall and 4-10 in Big 12 play. That puts the Mountaineers in a tie with Texas Tech, which started the season 0-8 in league action and had not won a Big 12 road game until today.
 
Since defeating Iowa State at home in overtime, Texas Tech has now won three of its last five conference games to improve to 15-12 overall. WVU has just two regular-season home opportunities left this year against 16-10 Oklahoma State, which plays at TCU today, on Monday night, and against 12^th-ranked Kansas State on Saturday, March 4.
 
"Oklahoma State is playing really well and they are extremely, extremely athletic," Huggins said.
 
In between are road trips at fifth-ranked Kansas next Saturday and at 19^th-ranked Iowa State the following Monday.