Defense lifts Bulldogs past Warhawks 68-57

MONROE, La. – Louisiana Tech picked up its first road win of the season on Tuesday night, downing I-20 neighbor Louisiana-Monroe for a second time this season by a final score of 68-57 inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Louisiana Tech (7-2) was not perfect by any stretch, turning the ball over 18 times and only getting 24 points in the paint, a place where they have lived as of late.

But behind some strong senior leadership, the Bulldogs were able to overcome an eight-point deficit in the second half and hold ULM (2-5) to just 13 points in the final 14 minutes of the contest to win their eighth straight over the Warhawks.

“There was some real leadership that happened out on that floor,” said head coach Eric Konkol.

“JaColby Pemberton plays with an edge and really took it to another level. And it was contagious with the other guys. We needed to play a whole lot harder and better and we did. We started to take care of the basketball late and did some different things with our defense. This was a gutsy performance by our team.”

It was a game of miniruns for the longest. An 8-0 run here and an 8-0 run there. The Warhawks found one of those runs early in the second half, getting back- to- back 3-pointers from Erie Olonade and Luke Phillips to grab their largest lead at 44-36. The run forced a timeout by Konkol with 14:41 left to go.

The lead was short-lived as the Bulldogs dominated the remainder of the game. The team started taking care of the rock with just two turnovers while forcing six with their full-court pressure giving an assist.

The baskets started to fall as well, going 11-of-19 during that stretch and allowing ULM to make just five field goals (out of 21 shots). It was a sequence where LA Tech outscored the home team, 31-13 the rest of the way.

The biggest moments came when Pemberton drilled an open 3-pointer and then Kenneth Lofton Jr. grabbed one of his career-tying 12 rebounds and got the putback to go to make it a 56-50 advantage which matched their largest lead at the time.

Cobe Williams (13), Kalob Ledoux (13) and Pemberton (11) were in double figures for the Bulldogs. Exavian Christon registered a season-high nine points and Lofton, Jr. added seven points and two steals to his rebounding total.

Chris Efretuei had 12 points for the Warhawks.