LITTLE ROCK -- Louisiana Tech (1-3) could not keep up with UALR (4-1) Saturday night as the Trojans downed the Bulldogs 63-49 in the Jack Stephens Center.

?We knew that we?d have to come out and get a good start,? Tech head coach Kerry Rupp said. ?UALR flipped it on us and came out hard. We didn?t match up well with them at the beginning. I did see some good things that we?re improving on, and I know that our staff is doing a good job moving forward with our players.?

The Trojans struck first before senior Keith Smith put the Bulldogs on the board at the 19:20 mark in the first half with a turnaround jumper from the baseline to tie the game 2-2. UALR answered with a 4-0 run over the next three minutes before junior JC Clark hit a three-pointer to put the Bulldogs down 6-5.

After a 7-0 Trojan run, a pair of free throws by junior James Loe cut the UALR lead to 13-7. Loe was making his first start of his career for the Bulldogs.

The Trojans would outscore the Bulldogs 15-7 for the remainder of the half and lead 28-14 at halftime.

Junior Drew Washington opened the scoring for the Bulldogs in the second half with a pair of three-pointers to put Tech within 33-20 with 17:01 to play in the game. Sophomore Kyle Gibson also hit from the outside shortly after to cut the lead to 33-23. Clark also got in on the long-range action with a three of his own for a 35-26 score at the 15:21 mark. Tech, however, would only come as close as nine points in the second half.

Washington led Tech scorers with 13 points, while Gibson scored 12. Gibson has scored double-digit points in three out of four games. Clark finished with 10 points for the Bulldogs.

Tech will return home Wednesday, Nov. 28, to take on the Southeastern Missouri Redhawks in a return game from last season?s ESPN BracketBuster challenge. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.