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No. 23 Texas Tech beats Stanford 100-87

Dec 23, 2009 - 4:59 AM By BETSY BLANEY Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas(AP) -- Mike Singletary wanted to make up for not playing much in the first half Tuesday night.

So he played all 20 minutes in the second half and scored 24 of his season-high 28 points to lift No. 23 Texas Tech past Stanford 100-87, keeping the Red Raiders unbeaten at home.

"He just competes," coach Pat Knight said of the team's second-leading scorer.

The entire team struggled the first half, Knight said.

"They weren't happy at halftime," he said. "I didn't think we played with good energy. We kind of played lethargic in the first half with no emotion and we didn't play athletic."

Singletary, who got into foul trouble early and played just 7 minutes in the first half, didn't attempt a free throw before halftime, then hit 7 of 11. He was 9 of 12 from the field.

Singletary said sitting for much of the first half was "rough."

"It was good to come back in the second half and just lead my team in every category really and to not have any turnovers, that's always a good game especially after a seven-turnover game," he said, referring to the loss to Wichita State on Saturday. "That was a game I wanted to forget really quickly."

The Red Raiders (10-1) took their biggest lead at 85-67 when D'walyn Roberts hit a layup with 4:30 remaining.

The Cardinal (5-6) cut the led to 95-87 when Elliott Bullock stole the ball from Darko Cohadarevic and Gabriel Harris hit a 3-pointer with 1:01 left. That was as close as Stanford got.

Landry Fields scored 27 points and Jeremy Green added 24 for the Cardinal.

"I thought that my kids played with a lot of heart," Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins said. "And they played hard for 40 minutes. And so did Texas Tech. I think Pat Knight is doing a very good job with his team. They're getting better."

Brad Reese did a good job guarding Fields, Stanford's leading scorer who was 8 of 20 from the field, Knight said. Fields was 11 of 13 from the free throw line.

"You're just not going to stop a kid like Fields but you want to make it hard for him, you want to make him uncomfortable and make him work for everything," Knight said.

Tech had five players score in double figures.

David Tairu scored 17 points and John Roberson added 14 - including going 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Brad Reese had 13 and Chohadarevic added 10. Nick Okorie separated his shoulder when he hit the base of the basketball standard in the first half. He will have a MRI on Wednesday, Knight said.

Texas Tech was coming off the 85-83 loss at Wichita State, the second of a two games on the road, which dropped them from No. 16 to 23rd nationally this week.

The Red Raiders promoted the game to fans by offering $3 tickets. About 13,000 took the offer and Knight made a point to thank them after the game.

"It's the best Christmas present you could give this team," he told the crowd.

Knight told reporters later he used the turnout to help stir up his team.

"If you want any of these people coming back you better pick it up because I wouldn't want to come back," he said. "It really helped give us something else to motivate our kids with."

Tech went up 57-43 after Roberson hit a 3-pointer to cap a 15-5 run to open the second half. The Red Raiders got four baskets, including Roberson's 3, within a 1:19 span.

The Cardinal used a 9-2 run, including two layups by Fields and a 3-pointer by Drew Shiller, to pull within 61-52 with 11:33 remaining.

Singletary, the team's second-leading scorer, picked up two fouls about 3 minutes into the game. He left for the rest of the half when he fouled Stanford's Andrew Zimmermann for his third with 5:31 remaining.

Tech started the game 1 of 7 from the field but finished the half hitting 15 of 27. The Red Raiders hit 9 of their last 10 shots over the final 8 minutes of the half.