Feb. 12, 2011

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RUSTON, La. - A DeAndre Brown three-pointer at the buzzer fell short as the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team lost a tough one, 50-49 on Saturday at the Thomas Assembly Center.

In the first half, the Bulldogs shot the ball well as they were 57.9 percent (11-19) from the field. However, in the second half, Tech shot just 23.5 percent (4-17) and 53.3 percent (8-15) from the free throw line.

"It was a tale of two halves," said Tech head coach Kerry Rupp. "We've got to put two good halves together. Our guys struggled to run the offense against their man-to-man defense in the second half."

Despite the statistical discrepancy of the two halves, the Bulldogs had their chance as they were down one point with 2.8 seconds left in the game and had possession of the ball.

As junior forward Olu Ashaolu drew defenders to him, the ball was passed to Brown on the perimeter, but he was well guarded when he attempted the game-winning three-pointer.

"I'm proud of the guys," Rupp said. "I thought they battled and hung in there. We had some big stops down the stretch."

The Bulldogs were solid defensively as the 50 points scored by NMSU was the least allowed by Tech all season. For the game, Tech held the Aggies to 38.5 percent shooting from the field and 14.3 percent (2-14) from three-point range. The Bulldogs were 41.7 percent from the field and 27.3 (3-11) from beyond the arc.

Freshman guard Kenyon McNeaill led Tech with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field including 3-of-5 from three point range. He also finished with a career-high six rebounds.

Brown scored 13 points and Ashaolu added 11 points and seven rebounds as the Bulldogs dropped to 11-15 overall and 2-10 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Louisiana Tech jumped out to an 18-7 lead early in the first half. New Mexico State (14-12 (8-4) then went on a 9-2 run to trim the Bulldog lead to 20-16 with 7:46 remaining in the half. However, Tech maintained the lead and went into halftime up 31-26.

NMSU scored the first seven points of the second half to take its first lead of the game, 33-31. The Aggies built a seven point lead, their largest of the game, at the 12:56 mark of the final period.

McNeaill gave the Bulldogs a lift late in the game as a three-pointer brought Tech within two points, 48-46 with 2:04 to play. He then hit a three in the corner to give Tech its first lead in nearly 19 minutes, 49-48 with 36 seconds remaining.

"The play that we ran to take the lead was executed perfectly," Rupp said. "They were worried about Olu underneath and we got the ball to Kenyon and he knocked that shot down."

Hernst Laroche then hit two free throws to give the Aggies a 50-49 lead with 12 seconds to play. After both teams called a time-out, Louisiana Tech had the ball with 2.8 seconds on the clock. Brown attempted a well-guarded three-pointer which fell short.

Hamidu Rahman led the Aggies in scoring with 14 points. NMSU was without the WAC's second leading scorer, junior forward Troy Gillenwater, who injured his foot on Monday's game against the Bulldogs.

"It's not easy," Rupp said. "There isn't going to be an easy game. We've got to continue to fight and stay together and find a way to turn some of these things to our advantage."

Up next, the Bulldogs step out of WAC competition to play at North Dakota at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.