Courtesy of LA Tech Athletics
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The road continued to not be kind to Louisiana Tech as the Bulldogs fell, 77-53, to Liberty on Thursday night inside Liberty Arena.
LA Tech (16-7, 5-5 CUSA) never led in the contest, struggling on the offensive end while Liberty (18-5, 6-4 CUSA) used run after run to hand the ‘Dogs their fifth straight loss away from home.
“We were not doing the things we talked about in practice,” Bulldog head coach Talvin Hester said. “There was a stretch there in the middle of the game where we started following the scouting report, getting stops, and getting the deficit down. But we did not do it consistently and against a good team like Liberty they make you pay for it.”
Two of those runs by the Flames came in the first half in the form of a 7-0 spurt and a quick 10-0 outburst that put the Bulldogs down, 27-11, about 11 minutes deep into the game.
The halftime deficit would be exactly 16 points for LA Tech, but the ‘Dogs would finally get some rhythm offensively thanks to the bench help of Al Green and Sean Elkinton. The two juniors combined to score 13 of the team’s 15 points during a five-minute stretch that cut the deficit down to 12 with 11:26 to go in the second half.
However, Liberty exploded yet again, going on an 18-3 run that put the game out of the reach for LA Tech.
The Bulldogs shot just 39.2 percent from the field and made just six of their 26 three-point attempts. Green had four of those three-pointers, leading the team with 18 points. Elkinton was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 11.
Liberty was an even 50.0 percent from the field plus 52.2 percent from beyond the arc (12-of-22). While their leading scorer Kaden Metheny was held in check with just seven points, four other Flames reached double figures led by Taelon Peter who had 16.
LA Tech heads to Miami to battle the FIU Panthers on Saturday, Feb. 8. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
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