Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Louisiana Tech could not stage another comeback on Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped their first game of the season, falling by a final score of 73-70 to Southern inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
“We did not come out with any effort,” said Tech head coach Talvin Hester. “I do not think we played hard at all. Even when we came back at the end, I thought we just got a few stops and made a few plays. That comes with maturity. It has been a long week but that is not an excuse. We should have come out with all things clicking.”
After recording three second-half comebacks at the Gulf Coast Showcase, LA Tech (7-1) found itself in the same situation versus Southern (3-4). This time, the Bulldogs were down by 14 with 6:46 remaining.
LA Tech proceeded to go on a 14-1 run to get to within one at the 2:22 mark, but SU’s Jordan Johnson hit a corner three-pointer and scored on a reverse layup to help keep the lead for the Jaguars.
Following an offensive rebound and putback by Devin Ree to pull the ‘Dogs to within three, a missed free throw by Southern gave the home team a chance to send the game into overtime. However, Al Green’s attempt at a sixth made three-pointer in the game was off the mark.
Turnovers was the primary issue for LA Tech to allow Southern to take the lead and keep it for almost the entire contest. The Bulldogs committed eight turnovers in the first eight minutes, resulting in a 22-11 deficit.
“I think it was a mental toughness thing,” said Hester. “I think people have been reading newspaper clippings and telling us how good we are. That was a really good basketball team we just played. I knew when we watched them against Texas A&M, we were in for a dogfight.”
The team clawed back though thanks to Daniel Batcho scoring down low and Green scoring from deep. Green hit three consecutive triples to give the Bulldogs a 33-32 lead with 3:07 to go in the first half, but the Jaguars closed the stanza on a 9-2 run to take a 6-point lead into the locker room.
It was back-to-back three-pointers by the Jags that pushed their advantage to the largest at 67-53. LA Tech erased it in a little over four minutes and had a chance to go on top, but Devin Ree’s 15-foot jumper was blocked.
The Bulldogs ended up committing 17 turnovers, all of which came in the first 29 minutes of the game. Not turning the basketball over provided LA Tech a chance at a comeback.
Batcho finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with five rebounds and a season-high six blocks. Green came off the bench to knock down five triples in route to tying his season high of 19 points. Sean Newman Jr. was the third Bulldog in double figures with 10 points plus eight assists.
Johnson and Joe Manning each scored 21 points for the Jaguars, combining to go 9-of-16 from three-point range.
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