Boxscore It was career night for the Bulldogs Saturday as Louisiana Tech topped Arkansas-Pine Bluff 82-47 at the Thomas Assembly Center.
The win pushed Tech to 3-2 on the season while UAPB fell to 0-6.
Four Bulldogs set new scoring career-highs as Louisiana Tech clicked on all cylinders in the contest, connecting on 47.9 percent of its shots from the floor and outrebounding the Golden Lions 58-31.
The game was the second consecutive for the Bulldogs over UAPB after Tech took a 71-59 win on Dec. 6 in Pine Bluff, Ark. Tech coach Keith Richard said a week's worth of solid practice between games showed for the Bulldogs on the court.
"It goes back to having the week off and working hard in practice," Richard said. "We wanted really improve our team in two or three areas and tonight I think we did. We defended the ball well, we rebounded with urgency and we got back to showing a little patience and sharing the ball on offense."
Donell Allick poured in a career-high 19 points after hitting 7-of-12 shots from the floor and adding three assists and four steals while
Paul Millsap turned in his third double-double of the season for the Bulldogs with a career-high 18 points on an 8-of-10 shooting performance along with 13 rebounds.
Tech's bench also played a vital role, with
Barry Thompson scoring a career-high 13 points while pulling down nine rebounds and senior center
Joe Sykes hitting for a career-best six points along with four rebounds and a career-high two blocked shots.
"Joe changed the game for us," Richard said. "We wanted to see if he can really help the team this season and he did and outstanding job out there with a couple of big rebounds and putbacks. That was a big lift."
The Bulldogs played what Richard called their "best half of basketball this season" in the first half, shooting 51.4 percent (18-of-35) from the floor on the way to a 43-23 halftime advantage.
"This was definitely the way we wanted things to go," Allick said. "It was a big week of practice and an emotional week of practice because the coaches really wanted this team to take a step forward and turn things up a notch. I think we were able to accomplish that."
The Bulldogs totaled 16 assists while turning the ball over only 10 times and forced 17 turnovers by the Golden Lions while recording 11 steals. Tech also poured in 22 points from the paint.
"We shot more layups in practice this week than we had all season long," Richard said. "The work looked like it paid off."
The Bulldogs started a little slow, with UAPB taking a 4-3 lead on a Brandon Jones basket at the 16:35 mark of the first half. But that would be the only lead for the Golden Lions as the Bulldogs would go on a 13-4 over the next five minutes en route to the 20-point lead at the half.
"Last time we played man defense, and Tech best us off penetration," UAPB coach Van Holt said. "This time we played zone, and Tech shot the lights out. I thought we executed pretty well. We missed a few shots. We got the ball to people for scoring opportunites, but we didn't convert."
Jamaal Bibles and Torian Neal led UAPB with 11 points each as the Golden Lions were held to a 30.5 shooting percent (18-of-59), including only 18.8 percent (3-of-16) of their shots from 3-point range.
Louisiana Tech returns to the road on Wednesday as the Bulldogs face the University of Arkansas at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, Ark.
