Dec. 29, 2011
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
RUSTON, La. - Freshman guard Raheem Appleby (Jacksonville, Ark.) scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, a career-best, for his first career double-double as Louisiana Tech (8-6) defeated Spring Hill (8-3) Thursday night 69-41 in front of 4,930 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.
In the first half, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 5-2 advantage after a layup from senior forward Romario Souza (Mias Gerias, Brazil) and a three-pointer from senior guard Trevor Gaskins (Alpharetta, Ga.)
The Badgers scored the next four points to take their only lead of the game, 6-5, at the 16:29 mark. Tech responded with an 11-2 run over the next 9:18 for an eight-point advantage.
Spring Hill came back to tie the game 19-19 with 4:12 left in the period before the Bulldogs scored the final seven points of the half to go into halftime up 26-19. The 19 points are the fewest Tech has given up this season in the first half.
The Badgers' Brett Williams hit a jumper at the 16:46 mark of the second half to cut the Bulldog's lead to 32-27.
That would be as close as Spring Hill would get the rest of the game as Tech scored the next 13 points of the contest over the next 4:16 to go up 45-27 with five coming from Appleby and four from junior guard Brandon Gibson (Marianna, Fla.).
Gibson's three-pointer with 4:08 remaining pushed the Bulldog's lead to 22, 59-37.
Freshman forward Michale Kyser (Lancaster, Texas) scored five of Tech's final 10 points in the last 3:48 of the contest as Tech finished off the 28-point victory.
Sophomore guard Kenyon McNeail (Conway, Ark.) added 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond-the-arc as he was the only other Bulldog to reach double-figures in scoring on the night. Kyser and Gibson contributed nine and eight points, respectively.
Gibson tied his career-high in rebounds with 12, evenly distributed on the offensive and defensive glass, while Gaskins was credited with a career-best five assists.
With two blocked shots, Kyser now has 34 on the season and is 13 swats away from tying former Tech player Eldon Bowman for 10th on the program's career list.
The Bulldogs outrebounded Spring Hill 48-28 including 23-5 on the offensive glass which led to 25 second chance points for Tech.
From the field, the Bulldogs made 25-of-64 attempts including 15-of-29 (51.7%) in the second half.
Frederick Gatson was the only Spring Hill player to reach double-figures with 14 as the Badgers had six contribute four-points apiece. Stephen Burches and Gatson grabbed a team-best five rebounds while Burches also led Spring Hill in assists (4) and steals (3).
The Badgers shot 40 percent from the field and were 1-for-9 on three-point attempts.
LA Tech plays their final game of 2011 at SMU on Saturday with tip-off set for 1 p.m. at Moody Coliseum.
