GameDay Central | Game Notes

RUSTON -- Game No. 13 of the 2016-17 regular season comes on Thursday night and represents the final non-conference game for the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team which comes against LSU-Shreveport at 6:30 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center.

LA Tech (7-5) will look to try to start a new home winning streak after suffering a tough one-point loss in the TAC this past Tuesday to Florida Gulf Coast. History says the Bulldogs are good at bouncing back, having lost back-to-back games only four times in the last three-plus seasons.

It was a hard-fought battle against FGCU with nine ties and 12 lead changes. It just so happened that the final lead change went the way of the Eagles with a game-winning basket scored with 12 seconds to go.

Redshirt senior Erik McCree put together another strong performance, registering his sixth double-double of the season while leading the team in scoring with 25 points and in rebounding with 10 boards. It marked the fourth time this year he has had a 20-point, 10-rebound game.

Other strong outings came from junior Omar Sherman who tallied 11 points to go along with a career-high four blocks as well as freshman Jalen Harris who came off the bench to score 14. The shooting guard has now scored in double figures in four of the last five games he has played in.

Those three, as well as junior Jacobi Boykins, are the four Bulldogs who are currently averaging more than 10 points per contest.

Another bright spot in the FGCU game was only committing seven turnovers. The `Dogs came into the contest averaging 21 turnovers in the previous three games combined.

LSU-Shreveport (9-3) opened its season with five straight victories. After dropping back-to-back games after that, the Pilots got back on track and have won four of its last five, including an 84-71 win over Paul Quinn.

LSUS is averaging a staggering 93 points per game, having eclipsed the century mark six times this season. They have three players that average double figures in scoring, led by guard Benjamin Batts who has tallied 16.6 points per contest thus far.

Not far behind him are Uzonna Akazi and Tyrell Springer who average 13.7 and 12.4 points per game, respectively.

LA Tech leads the all-time series over I-20 foe LSU-Shreveport, 1-0. The lone meeting came last season when the Bulldogs used a 28-5 run in the first half to help down the Pilots, 84-49, in the TAC.

It will be the final tune-up before Conference USA play starts up on New Year's Day at Southern Miss which will mark the third straight season that the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles face one another to begin C-USA play.

Fans can access live video via the Internet by subscribing to CUSA.tv. The game can also be heard live on the LA Tech Sports Network on KXKZ 107.5 FM (Ruston) and KTKC 92.9 FM (Springhill) as well as on the LA Tech X Mobile app. The "Voice of the Bulldogs" Dave Nitz will call the play-by-play and Jack Thigpen will provide analysis.

Twitter users can receive live in-game updates by following @LATechHoops.