D’walyn Roberts thought about holding onto the rebound and letting Jacksonville commit a desperate foul in the final seconds Saturday. Then he changed his mind.

Roberts fired the ball down court to David Tairu, who slammed it through the net to seal a 69-64 victory in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at United Spirit Arena.

“You have two teams that it’s a privilege for them to be in this tournament and they played like it,” Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said. “I knew it was going to be a tough game, and they gave us everything that they had.”

Eighth-seeded Jacksonville arrived in Lubbock still high from its 67-66 win against top seed Arizona State in the opening round. The Dolphins played such aggressive defense in the first half they held the Red Raiders scoreless through five minutes and had an 11-point lead less than seven minutes in.

Texas Tech's David Tairu yells after a big dunk in the closing seconds of the second half against Jacksonville, during their second round NIT college basketball game Saturday, March 20, 2010, in Lubbock, Texas. Saturday, March 20, 2010 (Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Texas Tech's David Tairu dunks the ball in front of Jacksonville's Ben Smith in the closing seconds of their NIT game Saturday at United Spirit Arena. Tech won, 69-64, advancing to the third round of the NIT. (Geoffrey McAllister/Avalanche-Journal)

Texas Tech was so passive by comparison Knight didn’t even bother to chew them out at halftime.

“I have trust in these guys,” he said. “That wasn’t us in the first half.”

Texas Tech started the second half on a 12-6 run to close Jacksonville’s lead to one point. The Raiders took their first lead of the game on a fastbreak dunk by Roberts that seemed to drain Jacksonville of its momentum.

Roberts finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and his coaches’ praise for not only the defensive rebound that kept Tech in control, but for his ability to recover after battling a bone bruise in his right foot for most of the season.

“I’m happy for D’walyn, to end like he has these last two, three weeks,” Knight said. “The poor kid had a great preseason then he hurts his foot and didn’t practice the first four, six weeks.”

But it was Brad Reese who stole the show. Reese, a native of Laurel Hill, Fla., was recruited by Jacksonville as a high school student. He finished with 19 points, one shy of his career-high, and 10 rebounds to lead Tech.

Jacksonville coach Cliff Warren said Roberts and Reese, who together rebounded more Jacksonville shots than the Dolphins did, decimated his team’s offense.

“They’ve got some really long, athletic guys,” Warren said. “Reese and Roberts are very long and athletic, and when our guys kicked it out they did a good job contesting shots.”

Ben Smith, who hit the game-winner against Arizona State, had 17 points to lead the Dolphins. Tech’s defense revolved around eliminating the sharp-shooting senior; it wanted to force Jacksonville to drive to the bucket instead of draining outside jumpers.

The plan worked effectively enough to hold the Dolphins to 22.2 percent 3-point shooting.

“I was trying to be a little physical with him, try to make him uncomfortable,” Tech point guard John Roberson said. “They set a lot of ball screens for him. He’s quick with the ball and he can shoot.

“We were just trying to take the ball out of his hands as much as possible and make other people beat us.”

Instead, Tech used its defense to stay alive and its athleticism to beat Jacksonville. That agile post play earned the team a third NIT game – Tech plays at Mississippi at 7 p.m. Tuesday – and a chance to move on to the tournament’s final four.

“That’s the stuff it’s sad you don’t hear about on SportsCenter,” Knight said, “but from a coaches’ standpoint, when you get guys who can score some buckets but also give you double-digit rebounds, I’ll take those guys any time.”

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TEXAS TECH/After late-season swoon, Red Raiders taking off in postseason

Texas Tech 69, Jacksonville 64

JACKSONVILLE 64

FG FT REB

Min. M-A M-A O T PF A TP

Cohn 21 2-8 0-0 2 5 1 1 4

Smith 40 6-17 4-6 0 2 0 1 17

Hardy 36 6-10 0-0 0 5 4 1 12

Alston 16 1-2 2-2 0 0 3 0 4

Colbert 25 5-10 0-0 0 3 5 2 13

Powell 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0 0

Edwards 24 0-5 4-4 0 3 1 1 4

Galvin 21 4-8 0-2 4 8 3 2 8

Powell 12 1-3 0-0 4 8 3 0 2

1 2 Totals 200 25-64 10-14 11 36 21 8 64

TEXAS TECH 69

FG FT REB

Min. M-A M-A O T PF A TP

Roberts 36 4-8 2-3 5 9 1 2 10

Cohadarevic 16 0-5 1-2 2 3 2 1 1

Singletary 37 4-10 4-6 1 8 2 0 13

Roberson 40 4-9 4-6 2 7 1 3 14

Okorie 18 2-7 1-1 0 1 4 2 5

Reese 26 5-11 6-9 2 10 3 1 19

Tairu 23 3-9 1-2 3 5 2 1 7

Lewandowski 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

3 4 Totals 200 22-59 19-29 18 47 15 10 69

Jacksonville 35 29 – 64

Texas Tech 28 41 – 69

Records: Jacksonville 20-13, Texas Tech 19-15. Shooting percentages: Jacksonville 39.1% FG, 22.2% 3-pt. FG, 71.4% FT; Texas Tech 37.3% FG, 50% 3-pt. FG, 65.5% FT. 3-point goals: Jacksonville 4-18 (Cohn 0-2, Smith 1-7, Colbert 3-4, Edwards 0-2, Galvin 0-3); Texas Tech 6-12 (Singletary 1-2, Roberson 2-4, Okorie 0-1, Reese 3-4, Tairu 0-1). Steals: Jacksonville 8 (Edwards 3, Colbert 2, Smith, Hardy, Galvin); Texas Tech 6 (Roberts, Cohadarevic, Singletary, Okorie, Reese, Tairu). Blocked shots: Jacksonville 3 (Hardy 2, Edwards); Texas Tech 3 (Tairu, Reese, Singletary). Turnovers: Jacksonville 11, Texas Tech 15. Total fouls: Jacksonville 21, Texas Tech 15. Fouled out: Jacksonville, Colbert. Technical fouls: None. Officials: Terry Davis, Randy Heimerman, Michael Irvin. Attendance: 5,465.