Free throws play major part for LA Tech in 66-64 loss at WKU

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Louisiana Tech men’s basketball team could not overcome the 24 made free throws by WKU, falling 66-64 on Friday night in game one of the series inside E.A. Diddle Arena.

Despite a sluggish first half, LA Tech (8-4, 1-2 C-USA) fought back and had taken as much as a six-point lead midway through the second stanza. However, WKU (9-3, 2-1 C-USA) went to the foul line time after time, taking 20 free throw attempts in the final eight minutes.

The Hilltoppers got 14 of their final 16 points of the game from the charity stripe. They did miss their last three attempts, giving the Bulldogs a chance to win it but Amorie Archibald’s deep three-pointer was just off the mark at the buzzer sounded.

“Ultimately, to beat WKU you have to keep them off the free throw line,” said head coach Eric Konkol. “That’s the whole thing. They got 31 free throw attempts. We worked very hard this week playing with our chests and showing our hands. We’ve got to look at the video to see what happened on some of these fouls. It was our lack of making free throws on our end and them making them that was the difference.”

WKU ended up going 24-of-31 from the foul line while LA Tech was 9-of-16. The Bulldogs had to get contributions from a lot of people as a result of the foul trouble, especially early on as Cobe Williams and Kenneth Lofton, Jr. were hit with two apiece in the first 3:30 of the game.

LA Tech missed 13 of its 14 shots during one stretch in the first stanza, getting behind 19-10, but JaColby Pemberton helped turn that around as the senior made seven straight points and the team made seven straight field goals. The result was a 31-28 deficit at halftime.

In the second half, it was Isaiah Crawford who took over for a period of time, scoring 10 straight points and giving the ‘Dogs a 47-44 lead with 11:26 to play in the game. The largest lead came two minutes later after Kalob Ledoux nailed his third three-pointer to make it a 52-46 advantage.

WKU immediately countered with a 7-0 run and rode its free throws the rest of the way.

Four Bulldogs scored in double-figures – Crawford (14), Ledoux (14), Pemberton (12) and Andrew Gordon (12). Gordon also added a team-high 10 rebounds, recording his first career double-double.

“There is comparable size there with Andrew Gordon and Charles Bassey,” said Konkol. “We’ve got to be able to get contributions from everybody and we did. We had to go deep into our bench.”

LA Tech shot 41.0 percent from the field (25-61). Defensively, they held WKU to a season-low in field goal percentage (35.7) and three-point field goal percentage (11.8). Bassey anchored the Hilltoppers with 24 points and 17 rebounds.

“It is hard,” said Konkol. “You feel like you are playing good defense and doing everything you can to limit their opportunities. Then there is a foul called. We’ve got to be able to recover from this and get ready for tomorrow.”

Game two of the LA Tech-WKU series is set for Saturday night at 6 p.m. inside E.A. Diddle Arena. The matchup will be streamed exclusively on Facebook through CBS Sports Network.

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