Nov. 2, 2010
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
RUSTON, La. -
Freshmen Kenyon McNeaill and
Cordarius Johnson scored 11 points each to lead a balanced effort by Louisiana Tech in an 84-45 exhibition win over Champion Baptist College on Tuesday.
A third newcomer also scored in double figures as junior Antwond Roshell put up 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in just 11 minutes of play. Sophomore Darius Redding had 10 points to go with five boards in his 18 minutes of action.
"Defensively I wish we would have played better," said head coach Kerry Rupp. "If we are going to be a good team, the two things we have to be great on is defending and rebounding. I thought we gave up some easy passes and put them on the free throw line way too many times."
The Bulldogs jetted out to a 31-6 lead after the first 11 minutes of play. From that point, Champion Baptist played even with Tech for the rest of the half as the teams each scored 16 points and the Bulldogs led 47-22 at the break.
"I wasn't concerned about the opponent as much as I was about how we were going to do," Rupp said.
In the second half, junior forward Olu Ashaolu took the floor for the first time and scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field in just nine minutes of play. It didn't take long for him to make his presence known as he threw down an ally-oop dunk early in the second half on a pass from junior DeAndre Brown.
"I liked the way DeAndre pushed the ball on offense. He also did a good job by setting the tone by stopping the ball in transition," Rupp said.
Brown scored eight points and chipped in four assists and three steals.
The Bulldogs dominated the paint 28-8 in the game and outrebounded the Tigers 51-30. Tech showed their balanced effort in bench points as well 31-6.
Tech shot 48.7 percent for the game and held the Tigers to 25 percent. Both teams shot just 16.7 percent from three-point range.
Every Bulldog that was dressed in uniform played at least nine minutes and all scored at least two points.
Tech gets the regular season underway at No. 25 Texas on Wednesday Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. The game will be shown on ESPNU.
