Red Raiders win, beat Islanders 66-59
In 2008, Darko Cohadarevic had one goal: score, whenever possible, however necessary. Just keep scoring.
These days, like the rest of the Texas Tech basketball team, his goals are a little more defense-driven.
“The biggest difference between this team and last year’s team is this year we all realize and accept what our role is on the team,” Cohadarevic said. “Last year I wanted my role to be to score more than to rebound. Now I’m trying to have 10 or more rebounds every game.”
Cohadarevic narrowly missed that, but in his second start had 12 points and seven rebounds to help Tech to a 66-59 win in the second round of the Duel in the Desert basketball tournament. It’s lower scoring than the Red Raiders became accustomed to last season, when they averaged more than 77 points per game, but coach Pat Knight said he and his team are learning all that matters is outscoring their opponent.
“We held them to 59 points,” Knight said a day after opening the season with a 88-49 win against South Dakota. “We scored a lot last night; it was all about winning. But to win at this level you’ve got to defend.”
Tech (2-0) had four players with double-digit scoring; John Roberson led with 15 points, Mike Singletary added 14 and Cohadarevic and D’walyn Roberts scored 12 each.
Two Islanders neared 20 points each, as Demond Watt tied a career high with 19 points and Kevin Palmer scored 18. But coach Perry Clark said he’d hoped to see three or four players scoring in double digits; doing so would have shown that his team took a variety of shots.
“We wanted to mix our inside game with our outside game,” Clark said. “We were not effective in doing that.”
A&M-Corpus Christi (1-1) led 10-9 after four minutes, then went on a 11-2 run to take a 21-11 lead with 10:39 left in the first half. The Raiders outscored the Islanders 21-16 through the rest of the half, cutting the lead to 36-32 at the half.
Knight said he was disappointed to see his team take 11 3-point shots, not to mention missing nine of them. He said Tech’s lack of aggression against Corpus Christi’s zone defense led to the Raiders shooting a disappointing 14-of-30 from the field.
“I wasn’t happy with the shot selection in the first half,” Knight said. “That’s why they play zone. They know we’re not a 3-point shooting team.”
Tech opened the second half with a 9-2 run including a dunk and a tip-in by D’walyn Roberts on back-to-back possessions.
Roberts finished with 12 points and six rebounds. He drew a huge response from the crowd when, after sinking two free throws, he blocked an Islanders shot. Brad Reese came down with the rebound and fired it to Roberson, who found Singletary for a layup to make it 51-46 Tech with 11:24 to play.
Roberts’ four second-half blocks contributed to the more intense defense Knight said improved for a second consecutive game.
“D’waylan, he’s really athletic,” Cohadarevic said. “When he wants he can really play. This year the coaches have motivated him to really want to play.”
Tech held A&M-Corpus Christi to just 30.8 percent shooting in the second half, down from 46.9 in the first. The Islanders also continued to struggle at the free throw line, finishing 8-for-17 on foul shots.
Tech went to the foul line 12 times in the second half, scoring 11 points there.
The Red Raiders, now the only unbeaten in the four-team field, could win the tournament with a win against Oregon State tomorrow. Tip-off is 3 p.m.
To comment on this story:
courtney.linehan@lubbockonline.com uE06C 766-8735
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Duel in the Desert??? I thought this game was played in Lubbock? So, could we make that “Duel in the Semi-Arid Region?” Ok, so that does not have the same ring to it, but “…Desert” does not ring true. Lubbock has enough detractors (Tech rivals) who love to talk trash about a “hot, dry, wasteland.” So, why encourage that image? If “you” want to add to that image, you could more truthfully (but still misleadingly) call it the “Tournament in Tumbleweed Town.”
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It is called Duel in the Desert every year, no matter who is hosting the tournament.
http://www.basketballtravelers.com/pages/history_m_vegas.htm
Quit being so sensitive about L-town bro.
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When was this game played? It would help to include that type of info in your story.
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Tech is enjoying these games so much that Knight has them entered in the Caprock Holiday Classic. This way he can “win” another tournament against a bunch of high school teams.
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mike mike mike……poor fella just doesn’t understand basketball. just because you are not a big name school does not make you a bad basketball team. basketball is totally different from being a football school. there are better and more basketball teams than there are football teams on the college level. geeess man be a little optimistic too it wouldn’t kill you.
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Mike,
I don’t understand this attitude at all. Texas A&M CC was a tournament team in 2007 and Oregon State won 18 games last year and is projected to be a tournament team this year. They have Washington and Stanford on the non-conference schedule at home.
I don’t know what you want? We can’t be like Kansas….OH WAIT, Kansas started off with Hofstra. Well, we can’t be like North Carolina….wait…the Tar Heels started with Florida Int., UNC Central, and Valpo. What about Duke?…Oh, wait, they started with UNC Greensboro, Coastal Carolina and Radford. Texas?…VCI and Western Carolina.
This is a very respectable Tech team with three quality wins to start the season. Go to the game…Cheer on the team…Stop being stupid…WRECK EM TECH
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By golly, they did win 18 games last year; they also lost 18!! It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. There is a reason Tech is picked 10th in the Big 12. .500 at best, one and done in the Big 12 tourney. Guys are already in the doghouse. LOL
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Be careful about comparing KU’s schedule to Tech’s! Granted, KU has a cupcake or two but they also have Memphis, UCLA, Michigan, Cal, Temple, and Tennessee. Tech has TCU and Stanford but also, McNeese State, Northwestern State, SF Austin, Sanford, New Mexico, and Wichita State. You don’t get respect for your program by winning a lot of games against the Northwestern States’ of the world but you do against teams like Memphis, UCLA, etc. If wins are all you want in the early going, this is ok. It keeps you at home during March Madness.
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