Dec. 11, 2010

Box Score

LAKE CHARLES, La. - For the second-straight game, the Louisiana Tech fell to a hot-shooting team on the road as it lost at McNeese State on Saturday at Burton Coliseum.

The Bulldogs fell to 7-4 while the Cowboys improved to 5-3.

"We've got to finish the ball inside," said Tech head coach Kerry Rupp. "We had 18 offensive rebounds and we've got to score off of those. We have young guys and we are finding out what it's all about right now. Defensively we've got to do a much better job. It's not going to be easy and we've got to have a lot of effort from everyone."

Tech scored only 13 second chance points off its 18 offensive rebounds.

Freshman Lonnie Smith had a career-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field including 3-of-4 from three-point range.

"Lonnie is showing some toughness and is doing the little things," Rupp said. "He hustled, rebounded and shot the ball well."

Senior DeAndre Brown scored 10 points including a three-pointer, his 10th straight game with at least one trey. Junior Olu Ashaolu scored 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting.

The Cowboys shot 53.5 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from three-point range as Tech allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent for the second-straight game. The Bulldogs shot 38.9 percent from the field.

Early on in the game Louisiana Tech tried to score from three-point range as eight of its first 11 field goal attempts were from beyond the arc. However they hit only two of those and trialed 22-13 at the 10:26 mark. The Bulldogs then went on a 14-3 run to grab a 27-25 lead with 5:45 remaining. During the run, Smith scored eight points off the bench including two three-pointers.

Both team shot well in the first half as Tech was 46.2 percent from the field and MSU was 48.1 percent.

With MSU leading 52-43, Smith drained a three-pointer and then stole the in-bounds pass and Ashaolu hit a layup and was fouled. He hit the free throw and then Tech stole the ball again before MSU could take the ball past half court. On the possession, Ashaolu hit a layup to cut the deficit to just one point as Tech scored eight points in 21 seconds to trail 52-51 with 10:15 remaining in the game.

However, that was as close as Tech would get as a 17-4 MSU run gave the Cowboys a 69-56 lead with 3:59 remaining. The lead grew to 14, their biggest of the game before winning by 10.

Tech lost despite outrebounding MSU 39-26. It was the second-straight game in which Tech outrebounded its opponent, but lost the game.

Patrick Richard led four Cowboys in double-figures with 20 points.

Tech next plays at Houston Baptist on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.