Feb. 28, 2009

Box Score

RUSTON -- Louisiana Tech senior James Loe made the most of senior night Saturday in front of 3955 fans with a career-high 23 point performance to lead the Bulldogs (14-16; 6-9 WAC) to a 76-62 victory over the Boise State Broncos (17-10; 7-6 WAC).

"This was a big win for us," Tech head coach Kerry Rupp said. "Boise was doing a great job in their transition and they were forcing things on us and getting after us. Our challenge was to defend inside and get our guards on the perimeter. That's a very good team, and they're well coached and disciplined. I thought we did a great job of grinding them out in the second half."

Boise took an early 14-6 lead to start before the Bulldogs responded with a 13-3 run over next seven minutes to lead 19-17 with 5:53 to play in the first half. The Broncos pulled back ahead 24-19 before Loe scored seven straight points for the Bulldogs to tie the game 26-26 with 1:06 on the clock. Junior Kyle Gibson drained a three-pointer before the end of the first half to give the Bulldogs a 29-27 lead going into the halftime locker room.

Loe would score 16 of his 23 points in the second half and willed the Bulldogs to victory. After Tech committed 11 first half turnovers, the Bulldogs limited themselves to just three in the second half while swiping 21 turnovers from Boise State for the night.

"James couldn't have had a better night for senior night," Rupp said. "Rogers also did a great job in his minutes. He's just been a great team leader for us on the floor and off the floor, just like James. We stayed focused and stayed together tonight and got a great win."

Loe's 23 led all scorers, while Gibson continued to climb up the Tech charts with 21 points. At 1,033 career points, Gibson now stands 30th overall in Tech's record books overtaking Corey Dean. Freshman Olu Ashaolu added 15 points, while both junior Magnum Rolle and sophomore Shawn Oliverson added two key blocks apiece.

Kurt Cunningham led Boise State with 15 points.

Tech will play its final game of the 2008-09 season Thursday, March 5, at 9 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast live via Cox Sports local channel 26 with KXKZ 107.5 FM broadcasting for radio. A live audio feed will be available at www.z1075fm.com via the internet.