RUSTON, La. -- The Louisiana Tech men's basketball team was back inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Thursday night for a 103-58 exhibition victory against Union University.
Five players scored at least 15 points against the Division II Union, a member of the Gulf South Conference. The Bulldogs were led by the guard duo of Amorie Archibald and Ra'Shawn Langston, who each scored 19 points on 7 of 9 shooting.
Sophomore Exavian Christon started and was second on the team with 28 minutes. Junior guard DaQuan Bracey, the team's leading returning scorer, led the team with 29 minutes.
Christon scored five points on 2-for-4 shooting. He added three rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Louisiana Tech forced 17 turnovers, recorded eight blocks and made eight steals to clamp down on Union in the second half.
"It is great being back," head coach Eric Konkol said. "We have terrific fans and the band was spectacular, bringing a lot of life to the arena. I knew we were going to play a team in Union who could really shoot the ball.
"I thought we had a good beginning of the game in limiting those, but in the last of the first half, we let them get comfortable. That was the major thing we addressed at halftime and I was pleased with the way we responded defensively in the second half."
The home Bulldogs scored the first eight points in the opening 75 seconds, which was capped off by one of Archibald's four three-pointers, to force a timeout by the visiting Bulldogs.
While holding an 11-6 edge in the early going, Louisiana Tech went on a 12-0 run with triples from Archibald and Langston included. The lead increased to 36-11 midway through the first half.
Union finished the half making 6 of 7 from deep and slicing the deficit down to 15 at 52-37 by halftime. The point of emphasis in the locker room for Louisiana Tech was perimeter defense and to stop Tyree Boykin, who had 17 first-half points.
Union was 0-for-8 from beyond the arc in the second half and Boykin tacked on just four more points, while Louisiana Tech continued to score in bunches. Mubarak Muhammed finished with a double-double of 16 points and a game-high 10 boards in just 17 minutes.
Sophomore forward Anthony Duruji stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Bracey added 15 points with seven dimes and zero turnovers.
"We want to have great balance," Konkol said. "We want to score inside and outside, on the break and in the half court. We want it to come from multiple guys. We don't want it to be just one guy that has to carry us. We hope that this continues the rest of the season."
Louisiana Tech shot 39-for-65, 60 percent, from the field and 9-for-22, 41 percent, from deep. The home Bulldogs also won big on the glass with a 49-24 rebounding edge, including nine from JaColby Pemberton off the bench.
Union shot 18-fr-59 from the field for 31 percent and 8-for-21 from three for 38 percent. Boykin, the reigning GSC Freshman of the Year, ended the night with a game-high 21 points. Teammate Tylandrius Parks added 14.
Louisiana Tech will next play in its regular season opener on Tuesday at Wichita State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
The Shockers were 24-6 in the regular season in 2017-18. They won one game in the American Athletic Conference tournament before being upset as a fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament by 13-seeded Marshall.
Sports on 11/03/2018