RUSTON – The regular season finale for Louisiana Tech is set for Saturday versus Middle Tennessee inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.  It will be Senior Day as LA Tech will honor three Bulldogs – Tahlik Chavez, Dravon Mangum, and Tyler Henry – as well as graduate manager Travis Spivey.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Saturday, March 9 | 2 p.m. CT
Location: Thomas Assembly Center (Ruston, La.)
TV: ESPN+
Radio: LA Tech Sports Network | LA Tech Athletics app
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
Tickets: LATechSports.com/Tickets (FREE tickets to first 500 fans at the door)
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (21-9, 11-4 CUSA)
With the loss to Sam Houston, LA Tech has locked itself into the No. 2 seed for the CUSA Basketball Championship.  The Bulldogs had their five-game winning streak come to an end with a 72-66 loss to the Bearkats.
 
Down 18 with five minutes to go, the Bulldogs went on a furious 17-2 run to get to within one possession, but the Bearkats were able to put the game away at the free throw line.
 
Daniel Batcho tallied a game-high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting, marking his fifth 20-point scoring performance of the season.  He also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.  The forward is nearly averaging a double-double at 14.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per contest.
 
Isaiah Crawford posted 16 points versus the Bearkats, extending his streak of games with double-digit points to 10 (has scored in double figures in 19 of the last 20 games).  He is currently averaging 17.8 points during conference play, which is tops in the league.
 
Tahlik Chavez was the third Bulldog to post double figures with 12 points.  Chavez, Crawford, and Batcho have combined to score 56.7 percent of LA Tech's points this season.  They are on pace to become just the second Bulldog trio since 2015 to each record 400+ points in a single season.
 
ABOUT MIDDLE TENNESSEE (13-17, 7-8 CUSA)
Middle Tennessee sits in fourth in the Conference USA standings with one game remaining in league play.  They lost their first four conference matchups but have won seven of their last 11 including a 69-61 victory over Liberty this past Tuesday.
 
The Flames build as much as a 10-point lead in the first half, but the Blue Raiders went on a 23-4 run during a stretch that sealed their sixth straight home win.
 
Middle Tennessee was nearly perfect from the free throw line against Liberty, going 13-of-14.  They currently rank second in CUSA in free throw shooting during league play at 73.7 percent.  They have shot at least 79 percent from the foul line in four of their last six contests.
 
The Blue Raiders are led by the scoring trio of Jestin Porter, Elias King, and Jared Coleman-Jones.  Porter leads the way with an average of 13.9 points per game.  During league play, the guard is averaging 17.5 points which ranks second best in the conference.
 
Coleman-Jones is averaging 11.1 points as well as a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game.  He recorded his seventh double-double of the season this past Tuesday against Liberty with 15 points and 10 boards.
 
THE SERIES
LA Tech leads the all-time series versus Middle Tennessee, 14-7.  The Blue Raiders had won two straight prior to the Bulldogs winning in Murfreesboro this season, 60-52.
 
Both programs joined CUSA in 2013-14.  Since that time, LA Tech owns a slim 7-5 advantage.  The two programs have combined to win six of the 10 regular season titles.
 
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