FORT WORTH — When Texas needed him most, Max Abmas stepped up and led the Longhorns to a 77-66 win at No. 25 TCU on Saturday.

In the process, he gave the Longhorns a big boost toward a return trip to the NCAA Tournament in the unforgiving Big 12, which had eight teams ranked in this week's Associated Press poll.

Abmas scored all 13 of Texas’ points in the final 3 minutes, 27 seconds of the game as the Horns pulled away for the win. TCU (16-6, 5-4 Big 12) had tied it 64-64 on a pair of free throws from Emanuel Miller before Abmas’ scoring outburst saved the day for Texas (15-7, 4-5).

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Before his scoring outburst down the stretch, Abmas had just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. He finished with a game-high 21 points.

“It’s just understanding it’s a long game,” Abmas said. “That first half, I didn’t make too many shots. But I stayed with it, got to the free-throw line a little, and that got me going.”

Ironically for college basketball’s current career scoring leader, Abmas’ dominant stretch began with a brilliant defensive play. With Miller driving to the rim to give the Frogs a 66-64 lead, Abmas swiped the ball while falling backward and shoved a quick pass to Chendall Weaver before going out of bounds.

Abmas then raced down the court to convert an and-one layup on a feed from Tyrese Hunter that gave Texas the lead.

That sequence seemed to spark Abmas, who made both of his 3-point shots and all five of his free throws after that basket.

“We had to get him involved in the game and start scoring the ball for us,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “He just plays the right way, plays to win.”

Dillon Mitchell had 13 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season while Dylan Disu had 15 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Texas outrebounded TCU 34-21.

Searching for a spark to start the game, Terry started Weaver for the first time this season after a three-game stretch in which he averaged more than 10 points and 27 minutes. But the fast start didn’t happen. Texas turned the ball over three times on its first five possessions and trailed 7-0 less than three minutes into the game. That TCU lead had ballooned to 16-6 by the 13-minute mark.

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But with the TCU student section raining various forms of Horns Downs on the Texas bench, the Longhorns responded. Disu evened the game at 25-25 on a spinning banker in the paint with eight minutes left in the first half. Moments later, Abmas’ first bucket of the game gave UT its first lead.

Texas was just warming up. Powered by 10 points and seven rebounds from Mitchell by halftime, the Longhorns rolled into the break up 43-32.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Max Abmas helps Texas basketball team pull away from TCU for road win