Dec. 20, 2011
Final Stats | Quotes - Head Coach Michael White
RUSTON, La. - Junior guard Brandon Gibson (Marianna, Fla.) and freshman guard Raheem Appleby (Jacksonville, Ark.) led Louisiana Tech to another exciting victory over the Northeastern of the Colonial Athletic Association Tuesday night 56-53 in front of 2,183 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Appleby led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting while Gibson scored 14 on 5-of-9 shooting as the Bulldogs improve to 7-5 on the year. The Huskies drop their fifth straight contest and are now 3-6 overall.
Tech has now won five of its last six games with all five victories coming by three points or less.
Tech fell behind by nine in the second half, 30-21, after a layup from Kashief Edwards with 15:46 left in the game.
A 7-0 run over the next 2:41 cut the Bulldogs' deficit to two with four points coming from freshmen Kenneth Smith (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and three from Gibson. The Huskies stretched the lead back to eight at the 7:12 mark on a layup by Alwayne Bigby.
Gibson's three-pointer with 3:51 remaining pulled the Bulldogs within one, 46-45, before two free throws from Northeastern's Marco Banegas-Flores pushed the LA Tech deficit back to three. The Bulldogs were able to cut their disadvantage to a single point twice more before taking a 51-50 lead with 59 seconds left in the game.
Tech fell behind again after Jonathan Lee of the Huskies made two free throws to put Tech behind by one-point again.
Gibson's put-back off an offensive rebound with 31.8 seconds remaining gave Tech a 53-52 lead.
Gibson then stole the ball on Northeastern's ensuing possession with 23 seconds remaining and Trevor Gaskins capitalized by hitting both free throws with 19 seconds to play to give Tech a three point lead.
Both teams hit one out of two free throws as the lead remained at three setting up one final game-tying attempt by Huskies guard Joel Smith at the buzzer that rimmed out to seal the victory.
The Bulldogs struggled to score in the first half as they shot 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from the field and trailed 21-17 going into halftime.
However, Tech came on strong after halftime, shooting 52 percent (13-of-25) from the field behind Gibson's 14 second half points.
The Bulldogs' defense, led by freshman forward Michale Kyser's (Lancaster, Texas) career-high seven blocks which is also tied for the third most in a single-game in program history, held the Huskies to 33 percent (20-of-60) shooting. Tech recorded 13 steals and scored 19 points off turnovers.
The Tech bench came up huge scoring 46 of Tech's 56 points with 33 coming in the second half.
Northeastern was led by Reggie Spencer, who recorded 10 points and 11 rebounds. Quincy Ford scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and guard Lee added 10 rebounds. The Huskies ended the game with 50 rebounds.
LA Tech returns to action on Thursday evening when they travel to face Arkansas at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, Ark.
