Dec. 10, 2009
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TUCSON, Ariz. - After holding an early lead, Louisiana Tech fell to a hot-shooting Arizona team 83-67 on Wednesday.
Senior Kyle Gibson led the Bulldogs with 25 points, his fifth game of scoring 20 or more points. Junior DeAndre Brown scored 13 to go with five rebounds and five assists. Senior David Jackson, a native of Tucson, Ariz. had a solid homecoming scoring 11 points and grabbing four rebounds off the bench.
"They got physical with us," said head coach Kerry Rupp. "It was a toughness game and they did a good job of toughing us out. They took away our inside game."
LA Tech (7-2) was hurt by shooting 36 percent from the field while Arizona shot 51 percent, 58 percent in the second half. Fourteen of the Wildcats first 17 points came in paint.
"It was all the little things we forgot to do," Rupp said. "We didn't hit some shots that we usually hit and we took some bad shots. We had some offensive boards and didn't finish them with points."
Tech got out to a great start and maintained a lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the game. After two Jackson free throws, the Bulldogs mounted their biggest lead of the game 20-13 eight minutes in.
Since the mark however, Arizona put together an 18-7 run to take a 31-27 lead with 5:33 remaining in the half. Gibson hit a five-foot jump shot for the Bulldogs first field goal in five minutes to close the gap to 31-29. Tech's last field goal of the half came on a thunderous Magnum Rolle dunk and Arizona went into halftime with a 35-31 lead.
Just four fouls were called on each team in the half. In the second half, 27 total fouls were called.
Arizona scored 18 of the first 22 points scored in first nine minutes of the half to take a 53-37 lead. Brown scored the six points in that span for Tech. The Wildcats continued their hot shooting in the half and led 65-47 with 8:30 remaining, their biggest lead of the night.
The Bulldogs inched closer and brought the deficit to 11 after a Guyton lay-up as Tech trailed 72-61 with three minutes to go. The two teams traded points the rest of the way and ended with a final of 83-67. The loss puts an end to a Tech five-game win streak.
"Everyday it's a new day and a chance to get better," Rupp said. "Our talk before the game was that we have to out-tough them and we didn't do that."
Arizona senior Nick Wise led five Wildcats in double-figures with 24 points. Junior Jamelle Horne added a career-high 24 Nick Wise as UA improved to 4-4 on the season.
Louisiana Tech will next play at Centenary on Saturday at 7 p.m.
