Kerwin Walton established Career Best of 27 points and eight 3 points to lead the third seed Texas Tech to an 82-72 victory over No. 14 Frö Unc Wilmington on Thursday evening in the West Region first round in Denver.
Elijah Hawkins added 14 points, 10 assists and nine returns for Red Raiders (26-8), who will meet No. 11 Drake on Saturday’s second round. Darrion Williams had 13 points and nine boards, and JT Toppin added 12 points and 11 returns.
Walton fell a Trey card from the school record held by Alan Voskuil, who had nine against Kansas on March 4, 2009.
Nolan Hodge has 18 points and seven returns for UNC Wilmington, which is 1-7 all the time in NCAA Tournament Play. Bo Montgomery added 10 points for the Seahawks.
Texas Tech’s chance McMillian sat out with an upper body injury.
The Red Raiders shot 39.1. percent from the field and lifted up 46 3-point images, which made 13 for a 28.3 percent accuracy.
UNC Wilmington made 41.3 percent of its shots and hit 7 out of 26 behind the bow.
Wilmington dragged at 16 before dominating the rest of the first half. The Seahawks laughed with 12 straight and ended with Hodge’s basket with 1:34 left.
The momentum was transferred to the second half and Wilmington knotted the score of 41 on two free throw by greedy Williams with 17:38 left.
Less than three minutes later, Hodge drilled a 3-pointer to give the Seahawks a 46-45 advantage, their first lead since 3-2.
Walton hit three threads during the first seven plus minutes of half. His eighth of the game gave Texas Tech a 53-50 edge with 12:42. Toppin added a setback to make it a five -point lead 38 seconds later.
The Red Raiders ran out of six straight points a short time later. Toppin covered it with a layup for an advantage of 68-59 with 5:31 left.
Christian Anderson drilled a 3-pointer with 2:57 left when Texas Tech’s leadership reached 76-64 on the way to close Seahawks.
Walton scored 15 points in five 3 points to help Red Raiders lead 38-34 at the break.
Walton buried three three in the first two minutes when Texas Tech ended to a lead of 11-3. Walton also made a trey during a 12-0 wave that saw the Red Raiders take an advantage of 35-19 with 6:11 left in half.
-Field level media
