COLUMBIA, Mo. - Despite lumbering much of the game, three times going more than 5 minutes without a field goal, No. 2 Mizzou held off Texas Tech 63-50 before a sellout crowd of 15,061 on Saturday at Mizzou Arena.

The crowd spent much of the game serenading Springfield, Mo., football recruit Dorial Green-Beckham, who was paraded by the student section and later heard chants of "M-I-Z ... D-G-B."

MU made just 19 of 48 field goals and allowed Tech to shoot a Big 12-season best 45.5 percent, but the Tigers made 19 of 23 free throws improved to 19-2 overall and 6-2 in Big 12 play. Tech, which made just two of six free throws, fell to 7-13 and 0-8.

Kim English led MU with 22 points, including 19 in the first half, and Marcus Denmon added 19 - 13 in the second half. Phil Pressey had 12 assists with only one turnover for the Tigers.

Tech outrebounded Mizzou 31-27 but committed 21 turnovers.

After a brisk start featuring two 3-pointers by English, MU made just one of its next nine field goals and saw a 10-0 lead melt into a 14-14 tie on a 3-pointer by Terran Pettaway.

But thanks to English, Pressey (seven first-half assists) and the Tech turnover spree that included 14 in the first half, MU labored to a 31-24 halftime lead.

A technical foul on Tech coach Billy Gillispie, the fourth called against an MU opponent in the last three games, and a flagrant foul on Pettaway 35 seconds later jump-started MU in the second half.

Typical of the Tigers game, though, they managed only the free throws (4-4 by Denmon) and got nothing out of the ensuing possessions.

Denmon came alive, though, hitting three of his first four field goals of the half after making one of eight in the first and racking up 11 of MU's first 13 second-half points as the Tigers nabbed a 45-30 lead on an English free throw.

But Tech lurked, cutting it to 55-47 on Ty Nurse's basket with 4:22 left.

A Clark Lammert 3 cut it to 57-50 with just over 2 minutes left, but MU scored the final six points of the game to seal the win.