March 6, 2010
Box Score
RENO, Nev. - RENO, Nev. - Senior Magnum Rolle's 11th double-double of the season wasn't enough as Louisiana Tech fell at Nevada 79-68 Saturday night at the Lawlor Events Center.
It was the first time this season that the Bulldogs lost two-straight games as they fell to 22-9 overall and 9-7 in the Western Athletic Conference. Nevada improved to 19-11 and 11-6 in the WAC.
"It's not enough to just play hard," head coach Kerry Rupp said. "You got to understand the game plan and can't give guys wide open three's. You just got to play smart and we didn't do that."
Rolle led the Bulldogs with 22 points and 17 rebounds. Freshman Darius Redding had one off his season-high with 10 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Junior DeAndre Brown scored 10 of the Bulldogs first 14 points of the game and finished with 16. Senior David Jackson rounded out Tech players in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.
Seniors Jamel Guyton and Kyle Gibson each played sparingly due to injury.
Tech led only briefly in the first half at 5-2 as the Wolf Pack dominated the period building its biggest lead of 37-20 at the 5:27 mark. The Bulldogs closed the half on a small 8-4 run to trail at the half 41-28.
Tech was outrebounded 25-17, but in large part due to Nevada's 44.1 percent shooting from the field including 46.7 percent from three-point range (7-15).
The Bulldogs trailed by 16 at the 13:18 mark, but inched their way back into the contest. Jackson drove the lane, made a layup and was fouled on the play and after converting on the free throw attempt, Tech trailed just 66-59 with five minutes to play.
After a Rolle jumper, the Bulldogs cut the Wolf Pack lead to 69-64 at the 3:33 mark. UN ended the game on a 10-4 run to come away with the win.
Tech shot 39.7 percent from the field (24-62) while Nevada shot 46.6 percent (27-58).
Luke Babbitt led all players with 29 points on 8-for18 shooting from the field including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Louisiana Tech will stay in Reno for the WAC Tournament and as the No. 4 seed, face No. 5 seeded Fresno State on Thursday at 4:30 CT on ESPNU.
"Everything now is about the conference tournament and I think we have a chance to be good if we can get a physical presence because we didn't get that tonight in the first half," Rupp said.
