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Turnovers doom Trojans in loss

— Louisiana Tech scored 24 points off 19 UALR turnovers in building a 20-point lead en route to a 70-52 victory at the Thomas Assembly Center on Wednesday night in Ruston, La.

Louisiana Tech (1-1) forced five UALR turnovers in the first four minutes and UALR missed five consecutive shots to start the game as the Bulldogs took a 21-6 lead with 7:48 to play in the first half.

The Trojans, playing five days after a season-opening victory over Tennessee-Martin, later trailed 25-10 before closing to 25-17 on a Ben Dillard three-pointer with 3:24 left in the first half.

But Brandon Gibson made two free throws and a threepointer as Louisiana Tech took a 32-20 lead at halftime.

UALR got within 38-29 with 13:04 remaining but no closer. The Trojans were outscored 17-8 over the next six minutes to make it 55-37. Brandon Gibson’s layup with 3:46 left put Louisiana Tech up 63-43, its largest lead of the game.

Dillard led UALR (1-1) with 11 points, while Taggart Lockhart had 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

John Gillon and fellow freshman James White scored 22 and 18 points, respectively, for UALR in Friday’s opener. But Wednesday, Gillon was held to seven points and White had six points and six rebounds.

UALR outrebounded Louisiana Tech 43-38, but scored only three points off nine Louisiana Tech turnovers and shot just 17 of 56 (30.4 percent) from the field.

Cordarius Johnson led Louisiana Tech with 17 points, Gibson scored 10. Raheem Appleby of Jacksonville, who scored 20 points in a seasonopening loss to Texas A&M, was held to seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.

Sports, Pages 21 on 11/15/2012

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