Game Recap

[TechDawgFan]

From cbs.sportsline.com

Louisiana Tech 76, Harding 55
Dec. 17, 2002
SportsLine.com wire reports


RUSTON, La. -- Antonio Meeking scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Louisiana Tech to a 76-55 victory over Harding (6-1) Tuesday night.

Meeking scored 15 of the final 23 points for Tech, including eight in the final four and a half minutes to fuel a 16-0 run which sealed the win for head coach Keith Richard.

"Antonio gave us some big offensive points when we really needed it," Richard said. "We have got to continue to get that from him if we want to continue winning like we did tonight."

Meeking hit 10 of 16 field goals and 6 of 10 free throws while also recording a career-high with four blocked shots.

"Tech did a great job of getting the ball to Meeking," said Harding head coach Jeff Morgan. "I thought they had a great game plan, and he had a great game."

Leading 32-29 at the half, Tech (2-3) hit a blistering 81 percent (17-21) of its field goals in the second half to outscore the Bison 44-26.

"We told the players at halftime that if they would stay tough-minded defensively and rebound, that sooner or later we would find some offense and pull away from them," Richard said. "We didn't realize it would be that late, but we finally accomplished it."

Lavelle Felton chipped in with 12 points, five rebounds, six assists and five steals in 34 minutes of action for the Bulldogs.

Jason Malek led Harding with 14 points.

[boxerdog]

It was good to see the Dawgs hit the floor again tonight. Obviously, we didn't look great but showed improvement. This unit needs much more game experience. Harding presented an interesting challenge and, for the most part, our guys responded.

Meeking was simply dominant. For those of you that haven't seen him play this year, he has taken his game to another level. He displayed a plethora of moves, rebounded well, and had numerous blocked shots. He also had a couple of "highlight reel" dunks. This dude is unreal.

Johnston played significant minutes. He was a little edgy, but it was his first collegiate game. He ran the floor well and hit his free throws. His defense was as advertised. I see him really contributing to this year's team.

Guard play was better (against lesser competition), but we still had a number of turnovers, many of which were unforced. I'm afraid to get overly optimistic at this point. Those players have to get better at passing and handling the ball. I will say that Woods looked the best I've seen him. He played under control and made a couple of excellent passes. He also stuck to the game plan. I was impressed, for what's it worth. Dean didn't play alot (I don't think he took a shot). I was hoping to see him more, especially with Wilder's absence. Yet, I have to believe Richard knows what he's doing. Opposing him is a futile endeavor (just ask Wilder).

Zach looked much more relaxed out there. Of course, he was playing against "church league" guys, but I was happy to see him contribute. Powell barely sniffed the court. And Sykes didn't pull off his warm-ups. Undoubtedly, Richard is still searching for the right combinations. He said he wants to key in on about 8 guys to handle the bulk of minutes. It might take a few games for him to make a decision.

Overall, I'm "cautiously optimistic" going into Saturday's game against Jackson State. We got some answers, but many questions still remain.

[JAY]

if he is trying to find 8 guys to play, why throw jj in the mix? is he going to be any more effective than powell? if richard is looking for an eight man rotation, then probably only one big man will get decent minutes off the bench.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Zach looked much more relaxed out there. Of course, he was playing against "church league" guys, but I was happy to see him contribute.

These are the same "CHURCH LEAGUE GUYS" that G and Marco could only manage to beat by 16 points last year...

I'm not saying they are WAC caliber, but I fully expected us to get hbeat last night based on the way we were playing as a team coming into this game...

[Dwayne From Minden]

if he is trying to find 8 guys to play, why throw jj in the mix? is he going to be any more effective than powell? if richard is looking for an eight man rotation, then probably only one big man will get decent minutes off the bench.

Because Zach, Wayne Powell and Corey Dean have been unable to find the bottom of the bucket...

It was strictly an offensive decision -

Plus, the rotation of JJ and Zach looked alot better last night than any other rotation he has tried in previous games he has tried with Zach -

I say if it helps our scoring, play him, because the good Lord knows we need every bit of it we can find as we get ready to head into WAC play...

[Gooddawg]

I doubt Powell has scored 8 points all year and JJ did that in just 11 minutes last night. I am not down on this team but I am afraid we are a long way from a top 3 finish in WAC. We still have some growing up to do and Jackson State Sat. night will be tough game if we continue to struggle on offense. The key is we have got to play great defense and rebound, which so far we haven't done and stop turning over the ball.

[Tech77]

On the post-game interview last night Keith said he expects Johnston to score about 8 points a game. He didn't say it, but it's obvious -- we NEED those 8 points from someone.

[Dwayne From Minden]

GD -

For the most part, I felt our defensive intensity was very good last night -

And alot of times that was with three TRUE freshmen on the floor -

However, our rebounding is weak right now -

And 19 turnovers speak for themselves...

[boxerdog]

Now come on Dwayne, the inside players for Harding were "church league". The way they were able to hang with us last year certainly wasn't because of any inside prowess. While you can still recruit decent guards at that level, talented big men are few and far between. Nevertheless, my remarks weren't meant as a total slam. I don't know about in Minden, but church leagues over here in Shreveport are happenin'. We have a slew of mediocre white guys who can't run or jump!

[aubunique]

"We have a slew of mediocre white guys who can't run or jump!"

Careful, now, boxerdog. It was bad enough mentioning church league but now you are mentioning the majority of us on this board!
We have a right to play ball, too!

[boxerdog]

No offense intended, aubunique. I, myself, fall into that category. Maybe we could put together a team that could give Harding a run for the money. If ya'll can set some hard screens, I can hit an open jumper all day. Well, I could at least shoot 50%. Or better thought, maybe we should just play H-O-R-S-E.

[Tech77]

Guys, I wouldn't try to tell you that Harding is the Tulsa of Arkansas or anything, but their guards were good. All their outside guys could shoot, and they handled the ball really well until late in the game. If we've got any church league guys around here that can play guard like those guys we need to sign them up -- TODAY!

[american]

For those of you who weren't at the game, we were only up by 5 with 5 minutes to go. It was pretty scary.