RUSTON, La. ? Louisiana Tech found its offense in a big way on Saturday night as the Bulldogs cruised past SMU, 89-77, to win its Western Athletic Conference opener at Thomas Assembly Center.

Lavelle Felton poured in a career high 27 points and nine rebounds to pace the Bulldogs (4-4, 1-0 WAC) to the victory over the Mustangs (5-6, 0-1 WAC).

Senior Antonio Meeking posted a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds as four Bulldogs scored double figures.

Tech came into the game averaging 61.3 points per game but erupted for 89 points, the most in any game this season and the most ever in a WAC game for the Bulldogs.

?This was by-far our best game of the season,? Tech head coach Keith Richard said. ?That is the team we thought we could have this season. We were a pretty good basketball team out there tonight.?

Tech led by as many as 12 points in the first half but the Mustangs used a late rally in the first half to cut the Bulldogs lead to six at 37-31 at halftime

The Bulldogs pushed their lead to double digits in the opening moments of the second half and went up by as much as 14 points with 12:00 remaining.

SMU came back to within five points at 73-68 with 4:06 remaining but could get no closer.

?Lavelle Felton played big, he scored 27 points with nine rebounds and was outstanding tonight,? Richard added.

Tech held the Mustangs to 36.4% shooting while shooting 45.5% from the field.

?I thought we defended very well,? Richard said. ?There were a lot of possessions in the game.?

SMU?s Quinton Ross scored 23 points on 7-of-17 shooting to pace the Mustangs

Darrian Brown added 15 points and freshman Eric Woods pitched in ten points in the victory for Tech.

?We had a lot of players playing with a lot of confidence tonight on the offensive end which has not been the case a lot of times this year,? Richard said.

Tech returns to action on Thursday night when the Bulldogs travel to take on
San Jose State at 9:00 CST.