RUSTON – Louisiana Tech had its eight-game home winning streak to come an end on Thursday night, falling to Kennesaw State by a final score of 69-47 inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
LA Tech (17-8, 6-6 CUSA) scored the first basket of the contest but that ended up being the only lead of the game for the Bulldogs who were held to a season low in points. Meanwhile, KSU (15-10, 7-5 CUSA) got scoring at all three levels including from beyond the arc where they hit 10 three-pointers despite coming into the game shooting just 29 percent from deep.
Three-pointers were keeping the Bulldogs in the game during the first half thanks to a pair of triples by both Al Green and Sean Newman Jr. Jordan Crawford buried one as well to make it a 5-point deficit with 2:28 remaining in the stanza.
However, the Owls would close the half on an 11-0 run to quickly push their lead out to 16 midway through the contest. The lead remained at 16 for the visitors with 11:48 to go in the game, but the Bulldogs could never slice into the deficit as they made just 10 total points the rest of the way.
LA Tech shot just 34.0 percent from the field (17-50) and 26.1 percent from downtown (6-of-23). Green ended up being the lone Bulldog in double figures with 11 points.
KSU shot 46.2 percent from the field (24-of-52) and 40.0 percent from three-point range (10-of-25). Three Owls scored double-digit points led by Simeon Cottle who had a game-high 19.
QUOTABLES
Head coach Talvin Hester Opening statement …"I did not have them ready to play. I have to do a better job of getting them ready to play. I have to light a fire. I felt it earlier, did not feel like we were locked in." On moving on from this result …"You don't really have a choice. When things happen in life that are not ideal, you can do two things. You can either hang your head or get up and fight. We have to fight as a staff tonight. We have to fight in practice tomorrow. We have to figure out as a team how bad we want it."
On Kennesaw State's run to end the first half …"It was difficult. The whole time we were down five, six points. I kept telling the team our wounds were self-inflicted. [Kennesaw State] had eight offensive rebounds in the first half. Our guards were not boxing out and chasing down rebounds. We were overlooking open people. We were throwing passes into the defenders' hands. We were beating ourselves."
On the offensive struggles …"I thought we hung our heads. Once we got down, I do not think we had that fight in us. We have a couple of guys fighting but it takes five guys. My staff did a great job of trying to keep the guys energized and let them know that the game was not over. I thought we had too much give up tonight."
NOTABLES
- With the loss, LA Tech now trails in the all-time series with Kennesaw State, 2-0. The loss snapped the Bulldogs eight-game home winning streak.
- LA Tech was held to a season-low 47 points, the fewest in a home game since 2011. It was the second-fewest points ever scored in a CUSA game for the Bulldogs.
- The Bulldogs were also held to a season-low 17 made field goals.
- The Bulldogs had 26 bench points, marking the 11th time this season with 20+ in a game.
- Al Green was the lone Bulldogs to score in double figures with 11 points, his ninth double-digit scoring game of the season. It marked the fifth time this season he led LA Tech in scoring. It also marked the first time this season the Bulldogs had no more than one double-digit scorer.
- Al Greenalso led the Bulldogs in rebounding with a season-high five boards.
- Daniel Batcho recorded two blocks, giving him 123 for his Bulldog career which is tied for the sixth most in program history. It marked the 15th time this season he has had multiple blocks in a game.
UP NEXT
LA Tech will play host to league leader Jacksonville State on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. CT in the TAC. The matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+.
