Texas Tech focused on Josh Carter. The Red Raiders probably should have been a bit more concerned about Texas A&M's B.J. Holmes.
With Texas A&M's leading scorer covered, Holmes scored six 3-pointers and finished with 24 points, both career-highs, to lead the Aggies to a 79-70 win over Texas Tech on Wednesday night.
The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Aggies.
Carter had a tough night, going 1-for-7, but made seven free throws to finish with 10 points.
"My teammates found me wide open," Holmes said. "It's not hard when they can do that."
Holmes didn't miss from long-range until his seventh attempt. He hit five 3s in the first half, including three in just more than a minute. His sixth one gave Texas A&M a lead after the Red Raiders' had tied it with about 13 minutes left.
"After he hit his shots we stuck with him," Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said. "You can't stop them all and Carter's been such a go-to guy for them, we went after him first. Then Holmes stepped up for them and we kind of changed our philosophy."
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The Aggies (16-5, 2-4 Big 12 Conference) didn't trail after that and led by four before Derrick Roland's 3-pointer stretched A&M's lead to 71-64 with just more than three minutes remaining.
Texas A&M was happy to get its' first win in two weeks.
"That was a great win because I thought Tech played at a really high level," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "It wasn't easy but to pull it out, this was a big one for us."
Texas Tech (11-9, 1-4) was led by Robert Lewandowski and John Roberson, who scored 20 points each. Alan Voskuil added 16 points for the Red Raiders.
The Aggies were up by five with about 10 minutes left before Texas Tech made five straight free throws to tie it at 58. Holmes hit a pair of free throws to break the tie then made two more seconds later to push the lead to 62-58.
Bryan Davis added 13 points for the Aggies and Roland and David Loubeau scored 11 apiece.
Texas Tech led by as many as nine points in the first half and was ahead by four before Holmes scored three 3-pointers in just more than a minute to put Texas A&M in front 36-33.
"We needed it," Turgeon said of Holmes' run. "Because they were making everything. It was big."
Holmes was perfect from 3-point range in the first half, besting his previous career mark of four before the break. He wasn't the only one who was hot from long-range with Tech's Roberson making four before halftime. Roberson didn't make any after that, missing all five of his second-half attempts.
