Staff Reports
Bulldogs 77, Jacksonville State 71
Louisiana Tech built a 21-point lead and then held off a late rally to defeat Jacksonville State 77-71 Wednesday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Tech (15-11, 8-7) played an almost flawless first half in building a 39-20 halftime advantage and extended it 21 early in the second half before the Gamecocks (13-13, 8-7) began chipping away.
Jax State hit eight three-pointers in the second half as Mustapha El Moutaouakkil scored 20 of his game-high 27 points over the final 20 minutes of action. A layup by El Moutaouakkil with 53 seconds to play in the game pulled the Gamecocks within 74-71.
However, DJ Dudley hit three-of-four free throws the rest of the way to help the Bulldogs claim the victory.
Dudley scored 22 points, including hitting 4-of-7 from the three-point line, and while AJ Bates, Mel Martinez, and Avery Thomas each scored 13 points. Bates recorded his third career double double with a career-high 15 assists, the most ever by a Bulldog in CUSA action.
Tech shot 55 percent (29-53) from the field in the win.
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McNeese 8, Diamond Dogs 3
Colby Lunsford hit a pair of home runs — his third and fourth on the season — but it wasn’t enough as McNeese State handed the Bulldogs their first loss of the season Wednesday night at JC Love Field.
Lunsford blasted a two-run shot in the first and a solo shot in the seventh.
Seven different Tech pitchers saw action, including 3.0 scoreless innings by Landon Fontenot in the start.
McNeese outhit Tech 14-7.
After the Bulldogs took the 2-0 lead, McNeese scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one more in the seventh to take a 4-2 advantage. Lunsford’s solo blast in the bottom of the seventh pulled Tech to within 4-3.
However, the Cowboys scored four runs on four hits, one walk and two HBPs in the top of the ninth to push the lead out to 8-3.
Sebastian Mexico and Lunsford recorded two-hit games for Tech.
