Boxscore

Louisiana Tech received a wake-up call three minutes into the second half Saturday as the Bulldogs bounced back from a slow start to take a 71-59 win
over Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Clemons Arena.

The win provided Tech with its first road win of the season and pushed the
Bulldogs to 2-2 while Arkansas-Pine Bluff fell to 0-5.

Junior guard Corey Dean poured in a career-high 22 points, including 12 free
throws, to lead the Bulldogs.

After sleep-walking through the first half and Tech continuing its sluggish play in the opening minutes of the second stanza, Corey Dean's steal and ensuing dunk with 17:04 remaining cut the UAPB lead to 44-38 and seemed to wake the slumbering Bulldogs, who would go on to tie the game at 44-44 with 14:54 left on a Dean layup.

"I thought they came out with more energy, more juice, to start the game," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "This was their first home game of the season and we were a step behind in the first half, especially defending the 3-point shot."

Tech hit on only 31 percent (9-29) of its shots from the floor in the first half, including an 0-4 performance from behind the 3-point arc. The Bulldogs did turn in a better first-half showing at the charity stripe, hitting on 77.8 percent (14-18) of their attempted free throws.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff opened the game with a 6-0 run before the Bulldogs called a timeout 1:58 into the game to try and slow down the Golden Lions. Tech managed to finally pull into a tie at 20-20 with 8:55 remaining before intermission, but still remained sluggish as UAPB would go on to take a 39-32 advantage at the half.

After Tech moved out in front early in the second half, the Bulldogs maintained a five to seven point advantage but could not manage to pull out to a more comfortable double-digit lead over a group of scrappy Golden Lions until the game's final seconds.

The Bulldogs pulled out in front by nine points at 57-66 with 1:48 remaining on a Donell Allick layup and finally hit a double-digit lead on a pair of Dean free throws with 38.7 seconds left to push the Tech lead to 68-57.

"We finally turned our defense into some offense in the second half," Richard
said. "We finally took away the 3-point line and that bothered them and finally let us do what we'd been trying to do."

Freshman forward Paul Millsap turned in his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 15 rebounds while adding four blocked shots while Allick added 13 points and JueMichael Young chipped in with 10 for the Bulldogs.

Tech outrebounded the Golden Lions 52-31 in the contest and ended up with a .397 shooting percentage, hitting on 23-of-58 shots from the floor.

The Bulldogs return home next Saturday to play host to the same Arkansas-Pine
Bluff team at 7 p.m. in the Thomas Assembly Center.