Jan. 20, 2012

Final Stats | Coach White Postgame Interview

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Freshman guard Raheem Appleby scored a career-high 28 points as Louisiana Tech (9-10, 1-3 WAC) defeated Hawaii (10-8, 2-2 WAC) 74-70 Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in front of 6,016 fans. The victory ends a 12-game WAC road winless streak for the Bulldogs.

Sophomore guard Cordarius Johnson made two free throws to give Tech an early lead but the Rainbow Warriors scored five straight points to take a 5-2 advantage two minutes into the first half.

The Bulldogs responded by scoring seven-straight points over a 1:05 span for a 9-5 lead. Hawaii came back with five consecutive points to put the advantage back into their favor.

Appleby capped an 8-2 Tech run with a jumper to put the Bulldogs up 17-12 with 12:07 left until halftime.

Two free throws from the Rainbow Warriors' Shaquille Stokes tied the contest at 27-27. Sophomore guard Kenyon McNeail then drove the ball down the lane for a layup to give the Bulldogs the lead on the next possession.

A jumper from Appleby with 1:32 left on the clock pushed Tech's advantage to eight, their largest of the half.

Vander Joaquim made a free throw and Trevor Wiseman hit a three-point basket to cut the score to 38-34 in favor of the Bulldogs at intermission.

Two minutes into the second half, Appleby made a three-pointer to put Tech up by five. The Rainbow Warriors then scored 10 of the next 14 points to take a 46-45 lead.

The Bulldogs came back to take their largest advantage of the period 55-49 on a layup by senior guard Trevor Gaskins that was erased by a seven-point run from Hawaii that was capped by a three-pointer from Shaquille Stokes at the 8:31 mark.

Senior forward Romario Souza made a hook shot in the lane to give the lead back to Tech 57-56.

The Rainbow Warriors cut the Bulldogs' advantage to 69-68 with two free throws from Bobby Miles with just over a minute left in the game.

A jumper from Appleby and two free throws by junior forward J.L. Lewis pushed the Tech advantage to five with just over 29 seconds on the clock.

Joston Thomas of Hawaii hit a jumper in the lane to cut the score to 73-70 but McNeail made 1-of-2 free throws to push the Bulldogs' lead to four with 1.1 seconds remaining.

The game would end as the Rainbow Warriors missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Johnson scored 14 points, all in the first half, on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc while Lewis chipped in with 10 and a game-high nine rebounds.

Junior guard Brandon Gibson and McNeail were both credited with a team-best three assists.

As a team, Tech made 27-of-60 field goals attempts and went 13-for-20 from the free throw line.

Hawaii was led by 22-points from Thomas while Joaquim and Stokes added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Joaquim pulled down eight rebounds and blocked three shots. Stokes dished out a game-high five assists.

The Rainbow Warriors shot 51.1 percent from the field and made 19-of-31 free throws for the game.

Louisiana Tech continues their two-game road trip Saturday night at San Jose State.