Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Sean Newman Jr. posted a season-high 14 points and career-high 12 assists as the point guard’s double-double helped lead Louisiana Tech to a 76-66 victory over UMass on Wednesday night inside Nassau Coliseum.
As a result of his star performance, the redshirt junior was named MVP of the Icons of the Game Event.
And rightfully so. Far away from Ruston in Long Island, New York, he had to elevate his game with LA Tech’s (3-0) leading scorer Daniel Batcho playing only 12 minutes due to foul trouble and forward Will Jeffress going down in the first half with an injury. And the Bulldogs had to overcome a pressuring UMass (1-2) squad that lives off turning teams over.
“Proud of this team,” said head coach Talvin Hester. “When you go on the road, it is the ultimate equalizer. I know we were not in UMass’ gym, but we traveled a long way to get here. Our guys showed some toughness and relisience. We always talk about being the tougher team. I am proud of them for the win and the way they represented our university.”
Newman Jr. and LA Tech met that challenge. The ‘Dogs also met the challenge of getting off to a good start, something they had not done in their first two games. They did just that, jumping out to an 18-4 lead thanks to a 9-0 run.
“Next man up,” said Hester. “Not only was Daniel in foul trouble but we lost one of our starters. At the end of the day we did not have time to sulk. I knew UMass was going to make a run. That is a good basketball team that is long and athletic. For our guys to be tough enough to weather the storm with a next-man-up mentality, I was happy for us.”
The Minutemen would get back to within five around the midway point of the first half, but the three-pointers really started to fall for the Bulldogs. Amaree Abram drilled back-to-back triples while Al Green and Kaden Cooper buried threes to help give LA Tech a 41-25 advantage.
After UMass scored the opening bucket of the second half to chop its deficit down to 10, LA Tech used another 9-0 run, capped off by a Newman Jr. three-pointer, to build its largest lead of the game at 54-35.
The “home” team from four hours away kept chipping away though and would get their deficit down to single digits after an 8-0 run made it a slim 67-60 lead for the Bulldogs with still 4:51 to play.
Batcho was able to use some crafty footwork to get a layup to go to stop the run, but the Minutemen got back-to-back layups by Nate Guerengomba and Akil Watson to cut LA Tech’s lead to five.
With 1:50 to go, Cooper was the recipient of Newman Jr.’s 12th assist and made a strong move to the basket for a layup. Then after a defensive stop, Newman Jr. buried a dagger three-pointer from the top of the arc to ice the game.
“We started slow in our first two games,” said Hester. “That is one of the things we talked about going into tonight. We needed to start with some energy and live. We talk about attitude and effort in our program, I feel like our guys always have the right attitude, but we need to get our effort where it is supposed to be. I felt like we started off really good.”
Abram had a game-high 19 points followed by Cooper with 11 and Batcho with 10 as LA Tech shot 48.3 percent from the field, 37.0 percent from downtown, and 83.3 percent from the foul line.
UMass was held to 38.8 percent shooting with its leading scorer Rahsool Diggins (came in averaging 22.5 points per game) tallied only six points. Jaylen Curry was the lone player in double figures with 14.
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