Jan. 4, 2009
HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Louisiana Tech (7-7; 1-0 WAC) will wrap up a long road trip Monday, Jan. 5, at 11 p.m. in the Stan Sheriff Center and will take on the Hawaii Warriors (8-5; 0-1 WAC) in Western Athletic Conference action.
Saturday night, the Bulldogs picked up a road conference win to open the WAC portion of this season's schedule with a 66-61 win over San Jose State in the Event Center. The Bulldogs will play in their third consecutive road contest and will look to make win two out of three road games on this trip.
After leading by as many as nine in the first half, the Bulldogs would take a 33-27 lead into the halftime locker room thanks in part to shooting 48 percent in the first stanza of play. Junior Kenneth Cooper finished the first half with 12 points, while Guyton was a perfect 3-of-3 from the three point line.
The Spartans would tie the game in the second half 41-41 with 13 minutes left to play and would reclaim the lead shortly after 44-42 with a three-point play from SJSU's C.J. Webster. Cooper added to his point total with 12:17 to tie the game 44-44 from the free throw line. After San Jose ran off six unanswered points, junior Kyle Gibson knocked a three-pointer down to cut the led to 50-47 with 10 minutes left to play.
Another three-pointer from Gibson would give the Bulldogs the lead again with seven minutes remaining at 52-51, and it would be enough to give the Bulldogs the 66-61 win.
Hawaii has won two out of three contests but most recently lost at home to Boise State 70-58.
Tech leads the all-time series with Hawaii 10-5. Last season, the Warriors and the Bulldogs split games with the home team winning both times.
Gibson leads Tech scorers at 15.8 points per game, while Guyton averages 13.1 ppg. Juniors Kenneth Cooper and Magnum Rolle both average double-figures as well at 12.3 and 11.3 points per game, respectively.
Roderick Flemings' 18.2 points per game leads the Warriors and is the highest points per game in the WAC. Gibson for the Bulldogs is sixth in points per game in the WAC.
The game will be broadcast live on KXKZ 107.5 FM in Ruston with a live audio feed available online at www.z1075fm.com. The pregame show will start around 10:30 p.m.
