Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse basketball will face Texas Tech on Friday night at Barclays Center.
The Orange and Red Raiders will meet in the consolation game of the Legends Classic, scheduled to tip at 7 p.m., and air on ESPNU.
It will mark the first meeting between the two teams.
Texas Tech (4-1) lost to St. Joseph’s after, like Syracuse, erasing a 16-point deficit before falling late.
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Erik Reynolds II sank six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, but it was Justice Ajogbor’s free throw with 13.7 seconds left that gave Saint Joseph’s a 78-77 win over Texas Tech on Thursday night in the UKG Legends Classic.
The Hawks (4-1) will take on Texas, a 70-66 winner over Syracuse, in Friday’s championship game.
Texas Tech entered Thursday night’s game hitting 45.1% of its 3-point shots in this young season.
But the Red Raiders struggled from distance against the Hawks, shooting just 4-for-20 from 3.
Reynolds made 6 of 11 from the arc. Xzayvier Brown scored 20 points on just 3-of-10 shooting but made all 13 of his free throws. Rasheer Fleming added 14 points before fouling out with four minutes remaining. The Hawks made 12 of 22 3-point tries.
JT Toppin scored 22 points and had a career-high 18 rebounds, 12 on the offensive glass for Texas Tech. Darrion Williams scored 18 points and Chance McMillian 17 for the Red Raiders, who outrebounded Saint Joseph’s 44-28 but made just 4 of 20 3-point attempts.
There were five lead changes and five ties over the final seven minutes before Ajogbor went to the line with the game tied. Ajogbor, an under-50% free-throw shooter this season, missed the first but after a timeout swished the second. Williams missed a jumper in the paint as the game ended.
Texas Tech, trailing by 10 at halftime, got four points from Toppin in an early 8-0 burst to get within three and stayed on the Hawks’ heels. A three-point play by McMillian with under seven minutes left gave the Raiders their first lead since the game’s opening basket.
The Hawks had a 16-point lead before the Red Raiders closed the first half with six straight points in the final two minutes to trail 45-35.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report
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