March 4, 2010
Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. - After leading by 10 in the second half, Louisiana Tech allowed a 20-3 run and fell at Fresno State 66-59 Thursday at the Save Mart Center.
LA Tech fell to 22-8 and 9-6 in the Western Athletic Conference, while Fresno State improved to 15-16 (3-10 WAC).
"I thought our best game was to go inside, but our ball handling today didn't allow us to do that very well," Tech head coach Kerry Rupp. "Our guys fought back after being down and got it to within two points."
FSU scored 16 points off 16 Tech turnovers including seven by the starting Bulldog backcourt duo of senior Jamel Guyton and junior DeAndre Brown.
For the first time this season, Tech won the battle of the boards and lost (42-36). Prior to the game, the Bulldogs were 18-0 when outrebounding their opponent.
Sophomore Olu Ashaolu led the Bulldogs in scoring with 16 points, 14 in the second half, and also added 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season.
Senior Magnum Rolle recorded his 11th double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds to go with four blocks. Guyton scored 10 points in the second half to finish with 13.
After getting out to an early 8-5 lead, LA Tech was outscored 16-5 over the next 11 minutes to trail 21-13 with 7:14 remaining in the half. Tech then closed the half on a 14-7 run to trail 28-27 at halftime.
"We didn't play with much energy in the first half and were only down one, then came out in the second half with a lot of energy and went on an11-2 run," Rupp said. "We need to limit our turnovers and secure more rebounds."
In the second half, Tech scored 13 of the first 15 points, seven of those by Ashaolu, to lead 40-30 just over five minutes into the half. Then it was Fresno State's turn to go on a run as they outscored Tech 20-3 over six minutes of play to take a 50-43 lead with 7:23 remaining.
With just under four minutes to go, Tech trailed 59-50 and with one minute remaining trailed by two, 61-59 after a Guyton three-pointer. However, that was the last bucket for Tech as they continue to alternate wins and losses, a trend that now spans over their last 12 games.
Louisiana Tech shot 35.1 percent from the field (20-57) and 33.3 percent from three-point range (6-18). They enjoyed their third-best free throw percentage of the season as they were 13-16 for 81.3 percent.
Fresno State shot 37.5 percent from the field (21-56) including just 23.8 percent from beyond the arc (5-21). They shot 65.5 percent from the charity stripe (19-29).
After just five points and one rebound in the first half, FSU's Paul George finished with 16 points and seven boards. Greg Smith led all-scorers with 17 points.
The Bulldogs play their final regular season game of the season at Nevada at 9 p.m. CT on Saturday.
