SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Louisiana Tech men's basketball team had a busy schedule on its first full day of the summer tour in the capital city of Puerto Rico.
The Bulldogs first took in the sights, roaming the streets of Old San Juan while learning the rich history of the U.S. territory, sneaking in some souvenir shopping, and sampling its local cuisine.
The latter part of day two on the island was spent at the Mario Morales Coliseum where LA Tech drained 20 three-pointers in route to a 113-67 blowout victory over the LPB White All-Stars in the first of three exhibitions scheduled.
"I was happy with the team's energy level," said head coach
Talvin Hester. "They went out ready to play. While I am looking forward to adding our pieces that did not play tonight in David [Green] and Isaiah [Crawford], we showed how deep we can be. I think the strength of our team is our team. As long as we do not have to rely on one guy, we will be a hard matchup."
The first quarter was back and forth with neither team able to gain separation. As a result, the two teams were knotted up at 22-22 at the end of the first 10 minutes.
The Bulldogs started to get some separation though in the second quarter, opening the stanza up on a 16-4 run and ultimately taking a 15-point edge into halftime at 49-34.
LA Tech ran the scoring margin up even more in the third quarter, producing a 24-3 run while outscoring the home team by 20 (31-11). The 'Dogs added 33 more points in the fourth and final quarter.
It was balanced scoring throughout the night as five players tallied double-digit points –
Kaleb Stewart (20),
Keaston Willis (18),
Dravon Mangum (15),
Cobe Williams (15), and
Terran Williams (14 all in the second half).
"This was a great experience tonight," said T. Williams. "There has been a lot to learn with our new coaches and to come out and see how did in a live game was great. Energy is going to be a big key for us this season and tonight we had lots of energy."
LA Tech will be back in action on Thursday to face the LPB Blue All-Stars. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CT.
For all the latest in Bulldog Basketball, follow them on Twitter (@LATechHoops), Instagram (@LATechHoops) and Facebook (LATechMBB).
