RUSTON – It was a physical game from start to finish on Friday night with Louisiana Tech edging out Jackson State by a final score of 70-68 inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
There was a total of 37 personal fouls and five technicals handed out by the officials. There also a long scoring drought for LA Tech (1-1) who went almost 11 straight minutes in the second half without making a single field goal.
Isaiah Crawford, who finished with a team-high 16 points, scored on a fastbreak layup to give the Bulldogs a 52-42 lead with 13:09 to play in the game.
It was not until the 2:37 mark that the team got another bucket as
Cobe Williams knifed through the lane for a layup out of a timeout called by head coach
Eric Konkol. Despite the lengthy stretch of eight straight misses, LA Tech maintained its lead by sinking eight of 11 free throw attempts.
William's field goal pushed the small advantage back to a two-possession game after Jackson State (0-2) closed the gap to 60-58 after a 6-0 run that include four free throws by Chance Moore and a layup by Jayveous McKinnis.
Amorie Archibald followed on the next possession by finishing through contact for a driving layup down the baseline to push the lead out a little further at 64-58.
It seemed LA Tech was going pull away down the stretch, up seven with just 56 seconds remaining. However, the Tigers got back-to-back deep threes from Ken Evans in the span of 13 ticks to slice it down to one.
After the teams traded second-chance layups, Williams made one of two free throws to make the score 70-68 with five seconds remaining. JSU's Evans attempted to drive straight to the basket to try to tie it up and force overtime, but he lost the ball and
Kenneth Lofton, Jr. came up with the steal to secure the win.
LA Tech built as much as a 12-point lead late in the first half in large part due to
Kaleb Stewart and
David Green coming off the bench to tally eight points apiece during the first 20 minutes.
QUOTABLES
Head coach
Eric Konkol
"We knew we were playing a championship team here. They won the SWAC last season, won 12 straight games at one point and they had a lot of guys back that had great athleticism and intensity. It was physical from start to finish. The difference for us, even when we went through our scoring drought, was we made free throws. We were able to get to the bonus and make a good many of them. And we got just enough stops, including that one at the very end."
NOTABLES
- With the 70-68 victory, LA Tech now leads the all-time series over Jackson State, 13-2.The Bulldogs have won 12 in a row over the Tigers.
- LA Tech extended its home winning streak to nine and now has a 22-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents.
- Isaiah Crawford anchored the team in scoring with 16 points, marking the eighth time in his career he has been the leading scorer for the Bulldogs.He is averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game this season through the first two games.
- Kenneth Lofton, Jr. registered 13 points.It is the seventh straight game dating back to last season he has scored in double figures.
- Kenneth Lofton, Jr. also tallied a team-high seven rebounds.It is the 18th time in the 34 games he has played as a Bulldog that he had the most boards.He is averaging a team-high 8.0 rebounds through the first two games.
- Amorie Archibald made his 108th career start, recording 11 points to give him 1,222 career points.
- Kaleb Stewart and David Green each came off the bench to record eight points, both season-highs on the young season. For Green, it matched his career high (scored 8 for Hostra last season).
- Cobe Williams notched three steals, the eighth time in his career with at least three in a game.
UP NEXT
LA Tech is back in the TAC on Monday, Nov. 15 to face Jarvis Christian College. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on CUSA.tv.
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