Jan. 30, 2010
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
RUSTON, La. - For the first time in 12 games, Louisiana Tech lost at home as they fell to a hot-shooting New Mexico State 91-77 on Saturday at the Thomas Assembly Center.
The Bulldogs fell to 18-4 overall and 6-2 in the Western Athletic Conference while the Aggies improved to 13-8 overall and 6-2 in the WAC. They joined Utah State to make it a three-way tie for first place in the conference.
"We were in first place and when a team comes in, they are going to fight to knock us out," Tech head coach Kerry Rupp said. "We didn't play with the hunger and the fire that we had recently. We've just got to get back to work."
Prior to the game, NMSU had shot 43.9 percent from the field, the Aggies shot 37-of-69 for 53.6 percent on Saturday. Tech was 30-for-75 for 40 percent.
Senior Magnum Rolle led all scorers with 27 points and 15 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season. Rolle played 40 minutes for the second-straight game. Senior Kyle Gibson had 23 points and junior DeAndre Brown scored 16.
"We got off to a bad start and we can't do that against a good team," Rupp said. "They disrupted us with some pressure and the next time we face them we have to handle that better."
The Bulldogs fell behind 16-5 as they were just 2-of-11 from the field over the first seven minutes of play. Tech shot 18-for-28 for the remainder of the half and cut the deficit to two, but couldn't take a lead. The Aggies shot 51.3 percent (20-for-39) in the first half and went in to halftime with a 48-43 lead.
New Mexico State sank eight of their first nine shots taken in the second half and led 67-54 six minutes in. They continued their torrid shooting and led by as much as 19 mid-way through before winning by 14.
"We didn't get back on defense and gave up way too many easy baskets," Rupp said. "We took some bad shots and they came back and got something easy."
Jahmar Young scored 19 points and Hamidu Rahman had 22 as four Aggies scored in double-figures. NMSU outscored the Tech bench 24-0.
LA Tech will next be in action on Thursday as they host San Jose State at 8 p.m. in a game broadcast on ESPN Regional.
