Feb. 20, 2010
Box Score
BOSTON, Mass. - Junior DeAndre Brown hit a deep three-pointer to give Louisiana Tech a 70-67 win at Northeastern in front of 4,441 at historic Matthews Arena.
The win gave Tech a record of 21-6 overall and Northeastern, who had won 16-of-18 games, fell to 18-10.
"I'm proud of the way we fought, when we were behind a few times, we came back against a good defensive team," Tech head coach Kerry Rupp said. "Northeastern is a very good team and they played extremely hard."
Brown scored 18 points and was 4-for-5 from three-point range, his fourth trey giving Tech a three-point lead on their final offensive possession. The Fort Worth, Texas native helped the Bulldogs to their most wins since going 22-10 in the 2001-02 season and their most road victories (9) since that season.
Senior Jamel Guyton hit several big shots down the stretch and finished with 18 points as he was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range and hit all seven free throws. Senior Magnum Rolle was an efficient 7-for-10 from the field to finish with 17 points.
Tech enjoyed its best shooting performance in nine games as the Bulldogs shot 52.1 percent from the field (25-48) including a season-high 57.1 percent from three-point range (8-14). The Huskies also shot well as they shot 54.5 percent from the field (30-55) and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (6-18).
LA Tech got out to a 9-4 lead before NU went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to take an 18-13 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the half. The Bulldogs took a lead on a dunk by Rolle at the 6:10 mark. However, the Huskies scored 10 unanswered points to retake the lead at 34-25 with 3:50 remaining. Tech trailed at halftime, 38-37.
Louisiana Tech had a good shooting half as they shot 52 percent from the field (13-of-25), but they were one-upped by NU's 61.5 percent (16-26). Both teams were hot from three-point range as Tech was 5-for-9 and NU was 5-for-10.
The Bulldogs came out of halftime with the same shooting touch as the first hitting five of their first six shots from the field. However, the Huskies continued their hot shooting as the game was tied at 49-49 just less than five minutes into the second half.
After trailing 61-53 with eight minutes remaining, the Bulldogs slowly battled back and a Kyle Gibson three-pointer with under two minutes remaining brought Tech within one point at 67-66. With the game tied 67-67, Brown hit a three-pointer off the backboard from about 25 feet to give Tech a 70-67 lead with 22 seconds remaining.
Northeastern attempted three shots in their final possession, but none went through the net as Tech won its ESPN BracketBusters game for the fifth consecutive season.
"It was a great opportunity for us to get some exposure, confidence and experience," Rupp said of its national TV appearance."
Matt Janning led NU with 19 points. Nkem Ojougboh recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The 4,414 in attendance was the most for a Northeastern game since 1995.
LA Tech will resume Western Athletic Conference play at home against Boise State on Thursday at 7 p.m. before hosting Idaho on senior day on Saturday, Feb. 2
