LA TECH beats San Jose State on the road

Here's a game we attended last night, hence the long-ish writeup.

Spartans fall 66-61 to Louisiana Tech

San Jose State jumped out to a very early lead but Louisiana Tech countered and the sense set in that the game would be a grinder from then on out. That it became as the Bulldogs crept into the lead and held it at intermission.

With 13:05 remaining in the second half, San Jose State tied it up at 41 apiece. The Spartans inched away to a 48-44 lead at the 10:51 mark.

Then a cold stretch by SJSU, coupled with a Kyle Gibson three, put Tech back in the lead at 52-51 with 6:32 on the clock.

A Justin Graham three-pointer from the top of the circle made it 59-56 in favor of the Ruston-ites with 3:56 remaining. The Techsters missed a shot on the next possession but so did SJSU. After another Bulldog turnover, Tim Pierce hit a trey from the right side to tie the game at 59 with 2:47 remaining.

Tech committed another turnover but Pierce missed on a dribble-drive and the Bulldogs rebounded.

Jamel Guyton was fouled and nailed both free throws, giving Louisiana Tech a two point margin, 61-59. Adrian Oliver countered with an 18-foot jumper to tie it back up.

Then the crucial possessions occurred.

Kenneth Cooper scored on a crossunder layup and Magnum Rolle subsequently blocked Graham's dribble-drive shot in the key.

Tech took a timeout with 44.3 seconds on the clock and possession of the ball.

The Bulldogs' Gibson missed a shot attempt but Cooper rebounded. He was then tied up but the possession arrow favored Tech -- 24.3 seconds remained.

After a timeout, Cooper was intentionally fouled and made one of two free throws with 22.7 seconds left.

At the 13 second mark, Pierce missed a three-point attempt -- back rim -- and James Loe was fouled. He nailed both free throws and that was the game.

Tech's Cooper went to the bench early in the initial half after two too easy C.J. Webster buckets. But the Bulldog center became a force in the remainder of the contest, moving bodies and creating space so much so that Webster and Spartan center Chris Oakes were both saddled with two fouls at the half. Call Cooper the most valuable Bulldog of the night as LAT smartly and proficiently ran offensive sets that often isolated Cooper against a either a smaller or less weighty Spartan.

Adrian Oliver again led San Jose State, this time with 18 points. On a night where his shooting appeared off, he still shot 7-14. Webster added 17 and six boards. Cooper also finished with 17 and Guyton was definitely 'on' tonight with 14 points on with 4-8 shooting overall and an 'en fuego' 4-5 from long distance. Although Gibson entered the game with many 40 assists to 48 turnovers, he enjoyed three assists and zero miscues with the ball on the evening. Guyton also had five assists with but one turnover even though he entered the game with a 33/34 assist to turnover ratio.

As teams, San Jose State shot just below 42% for the game, a paltry 4-17 on three-pointers and earned just 12 free throws, all by Webster and Oliver. But 19 Spartan assists were a bright spot. The Techsters were just above 42% for the game but 7-11 on trey attempts and 21-29 at the charity stripe. Rebounding ended up in SJSU's favor 34-31, with 13 coming at the offensive end..

Louisiana Tech led 33-27 at the half. With 11:18 remaining, the Techsters were up by one 14-13. Jamel Guyton was proficient from outside with three treys. James Loe even got into the act with a three-pointer and another deuce on basket interference.

The Bulldogs then widened the lead to 24-15 at the 8:06 mark.

As we asked in our preview, which Louisiana Tech team appeared Saturday night? Well, Cooper was certainly assertive, Magnum Rolle had his moments especially with help defense on SJSU dribble drives and James Loe contributed five points and notched three assists with nary a turnover in the first half.

NOTES

With the chance to finally see Magnum Rolle in action, our take is that he will be back for his senior season and that any NBA talk is premature. He's a marvelous leaper with arms that go on forever but he needs an upperbody in order to ply his trade in the NBA. Right nbow, there's no 'V' to his upper body -- his waist to his shoulders is a straight up line.