Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
After missing games on this past road trip, Jordan Crawford and Al Green made their presence known on Thursday night as the duo combined for 22 points to help Louisiana Tech secure a 77-67 victory over WKU inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
The first half belonged to Green who came off the bench to score eight straight points, giving LA Tech (14-6, 3-4 CUSA) an offensive jolt as well as its first lead of the game.
The second half belonged to Crawford who for some reason loves playing WKU (11-8, 2-4 CUSA) in the TAC. As a freshman, he put up 11 points and six assists. Last season, he netted a career-high 25 points.
On Thursday, he tallied 11 points, a career-high nine rebounds, and two assists. Oh, and he did it in just 11 minutes and 27 seconds on the floor.
“Al [Green] was 3-for-6 from three,” said head coach Talvin Hester. “Jordan [Crawford] with 11 and nine. AJ [Bates] was a +13. When you have your bench doing that, it gives you a chance to be great. Will Allen was a plus. When you have options on the bench, you can do different things and gives you variety. When Devin [Ree] and Kaden [Cooper] were in foul trouble, Jordan Crawford goes in and plays the four. He dominates it. His rebounding was elite.”
There was hardly any scoring in the beginning of the game with the Bulldogs and Hilltoppers knotted up at 10-10 at the 9:52 mark. Green was the one that tied it for the ‘Dogs with a three-pointer from the wing. He added another triple and a driving layup, which was followed by a fastbreak finish at the rim by AJ Bates that resulted in a 7-0 run and a 17-16 lead, LA Tech’s first advantage of the night.
Another 7-0 run came later on with Devin Ree providing five of those points, making it a 29-21 edge. Ree’s three-pointer was the only made field goal for the Bulldogs in the final five minutes, but the home team still held a 33-28 halftime lead.
The first half had its fair share of fouls (20) and free throw attempts (21). The second half really, really had its fair share of fouls and free throws. Much of the stanza happened at the foul line, especially with Daniel Batcho drawing 10 total fouls on his own.
“In the heat of the battle, you worry about the little free throws,” said Hester. “I think we have to do a better job of walling up at the rim and not providing team’s to get and-ones. We want to be aggressive on offense though and attack. Most of our free throws came in the second half when we just kept trying to punch the ball inside.”
After being somewhat limited with just eight points through 30 minutes of action, the Bulldogs made a concerted effort to punch the ball inside to Batcho. And with the Hilltoppers hanging around in a one-possession game at 54-51, Batcho scored eight straight points for LA Tech to increase that advantage to 60-51 and 7:07 left to play.
Then it was Crawford time. He buried timely three-pointers, tossed lobs up to Batcho for slams, and got defensive rebound after defensive rebound to keep WKU from making a comeback.
One of his threes proved to be the dagger. With 1:04 to go and the ‘Dogs up by six, Batcho drew a double team and dished the ball out to a wide-open Crawford who buried the triple from the wing.
LA Tech ended up shooting 42.6 percent from the field (20-47). Batcho was the team leader with 18 points. Devin Ree provided 12 as the fourth Bulldog in double figures. The bench wound up scoring 32 points on the night, tied for the most this season.
“It was really exciting to be back at home,” said Hester. “Our fans are amazing, you get to sleep in your own bed. I was really happy to have our whole team back as well. I think that was the theme of the night. We were healthy. We had 32 bench points. Jordan Crawford almost had a double-double off the bench in just 11 minutes.”
WKU was limited to just 33.8 percent shooting from the field (22-65). Three Hilltoppers cracked double-digit points, led by Don McHenry who had a game-high 21.
LA Tech returns to action on Saturday to host league leader Middle Tennessee. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT and will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
