Boxscore

Louisiana Tech committed 18 turnovers that led to 19 points for Southern University, as the Bulldogs fell 63-47 to the Jaguars at Seymour Gym in Baton Rouge, La. tonight.

Entering the contest, the Jaguars (1-6) made only 49 of 81 free throws (.605 percent) for the season, but Southern made 21 of 25 (.840 percent) compared to Tech?s seven of 17 (.412 percent).

Tech head coach Keith Richard knew turnovers would be a key statistic entering the game, and he also noted the difficulty of playing so many games on the road.

?We?re one of those teams where our margin of error is very small, especially with opening the season with so many games on the road,? Richard said. ?Our games can go either way. Our offense was pitiful tonight. I knew coming in the game that we couldn?t turn the ball over and give up easy points, but that?s exactly what we did.?

Both teams got off to a slow start, as the Bulldogs (4-4) took an 11-4 lead over ten minutes into the contest. Then, the Jaguars closed the first half on a 16-8 run to take a 20-19 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs battled back to regain the lead at 27-26 on a lay-up by junior forward Paul Millsap with 16 minutes remaining in the game, but it was Tech?s final lead of the game, as Southern?s Alvin Mott made a lay-up on the ensuing possession.

The Jaguars never relinquished the lead after that point, pushing the margin to its highest point with the final score at 63-47.

Millsap led Tech with his 48th career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, which tied him with Randy White for second place on the school?s career double-doubles? list.

Junior guard Marcus Elliott finished with eight points, Trey McDowell had seven points, and Jerome Richardson added five points. Senior guard Daevon Haskins followed his performance at Texas Tech of eight assists with five assists and four rebounds against Southern.

The Bulldogs will return home for two games next week, beginning with UL-Lafayette on Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. and following with McNeese State on Dec. 17.

Richard said the loss at Southern is the type of game one could expect by opening the season with so many road games.

?We?ve played seven of our first eight games on the road,? Richard said. ?This is why people play so many games at home to start the season. You?ll run into this type of performance from time to time when you play on the road so much.?

The game against UL-Lafayette can be heard on the radio at KXKZ 107.5 FM.