Box Score RUSTON, La. ? Three different players scored 20 points on Wednesday night to lead Louisiana Tech (4-1) past the UALR men's basketball team, 86-66, at Thomas Assembly Center. The Bulldogs shot 52.8 percent from the field on the night and outscored UALR at the free-throw line 23-to-12.
The Trojans (1-4) fell into a 14-point hole just under six minutes into the game as Louisiana Tech went 9-of-10 from the field to start the night and connected on its first five three pointers. UALR faced a 50-33 deficit at the half after committing 12 turnovers over the first 20 minutes, and was unable to cut into Louisiana Tech's lead in the second half.
Louisiana Tech's Magnum Rolle led all players with 23 points, going 6-of-12 from the field and 11-of-14 at the free-throw line. Kyle Gibson added 22 points after making 8-of-11 from the floor, followed by a 20-point, seven-rebound effort by Olu Ashaolu.
The Bulldogs went 7-of-15 from three-point range (46.7 pct.) on the night and 23-of-32 from the foul line (71.9 pct.). LTU racked up 17 assists against just 12 turnovers, led by six assists from Jamel Guyton.
Junior Ricky Davison led UALR with 15 points in his first start as a Trojan, going 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Junior Solomon Bozeman added 11 points and a team-high six assists, while junior Derrick Bails chipped in 12 points off the bench by going 6-of-8 from the field.
UALR shot 50.0 percent from the field on the night and committed just four turnovers in the second half, but was unable to overcome Louisiana Tech's fast start.
The Bulldogs couldn't miss at the start of the game, going 9-of-10 from the field as they ran out to a 28-14 lead with 14:14 left in the half. The Trojans trailed by just two, 16-14, after a bucket by sophomore Kelson Stewart at the 9:54 mark, but Louisiana Tech put together a 12-0 run to extend its lead to 14 points.
UALR cut its deficit to 10 points, 41-31, following a putback by junior Derrick Bails and a layup by junior Alex Garcia-Mendoza with 4:11 remaining, but the Bulldogs outscored the Trojans 9-2 the rest of the way to take a 50-33 lead into the break.
UALR actually outshot the Bulldogs 56.0 percent to 54.8 percent in the first half, but the Trojans committed 12 turnovers over the first 20 minutes and earned just two trips to the foul line while LTU went 11-of-15 at the charity stripe.
Davison shouldered the scoring load for the Trojans in the first half, scoring 11 points off 4-of-5 shooting (3-of-4 from beyond the arc). The Fort Deposit, Ala.-native scored eight of UALR's first 12 points to keep the Trojans close at the start of the game.
UALR didn't have an answer for Ashaolu in the first half, as the 6-7 forward totaled 17 points and seven rebounds while going 7-of-10 from the field. The trio of Ashaolu, Gibson (13) and Rolle (12) combined to score 42 of the Bulldogs' 50 points in the first half by going 14-of-22 from the floor.
The Trojans return to action Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center when they host Cal Poly at 2 p.m.
