Bulldogs fight back to beat Liberty

Louisiana Tech's explosive second half, spearheaded by the efforts of Sean Newman, Daniel Batcho, Amaree Abram, and Sean Elkinton, led the Bulldogs (13-4, 2-2 CUSA) to a 79-74 win over the Liberty Flames (14-3, 2-2 CUSA) on Saturday night.

After trailing by seven at the half, the Bulldogs outscored the Flames 52-40 in the second half behind a career-high 27 points from Newman Jr., 12 points in six minutes from Elkinton, 24 points and 12 rebounds from Batcho, and Abram going 3-3 from deep in the second half.

"We started making them play individual defense," Tech head coach Talvin Hester said. "They're a great team-defensive team and we said OK if you're good team defensive team we're going to spread you out and see if you can guard us one-on-one and put a ball screen in and let Sean go downhill and make plays. He's one of the best decision-makers in the country. And so, if they brought help, you knew they were going to have to deal with him passing the ball. I think it burned them in the end."

It was all Sean Newman to start the first seven minutes of the game and it stayed that way for the entire night, with Tech's leading point guard scoring or assisting on Tech's first 10 points - scoring 8 points in the first seven minutes on perfect shooting form - before going into halftime with 12 points on 5-7 shooting.

Newman would finish with a career-high 27 points to go with 8 assists, 6 coming in the second half. He's averaging 13 points and 10.5 assists over his last six games.

Batcho, who's had the pleasure of seeing Newman's greatness up close for two seasons now, is still amazed by his point guard's performances.

"It's amazing what he's doing," Batcho said. "I remember the first day I met him, and we started talking and the evolution from there and he keeps getting better. I love to see it."

Liberty had to pick its poison in defending CUSA's assists leader when he came off multiple ball screens, either allowing him easy drives to the rim to shade off and wait for a pass or wall him off at the top of the key, only for him to dish out 6 assists in the second half.

"With the matchup we had, we wanted to go inside to Batcho and we did that early but then they started to take Batcho away, which gave Sean direct paths to the rim," Hester said. "They weren't willing to come over and help because Al Green and his shooting ability and Amaree and his shooting ability would come into play. We just took what the defense gave us to be really honest."

Daniel Batcho's 10 points and 5 rebounds helped in the first, but no other Bulldog had more than 3 points at halftime. As a result, the Bulldogs found themselves trailing 34-27 at the break, not only because of unbalanced offense (3 combined points from Al Green, Amaree Abram, and Kaden Cooper) but also 7 turnovers and just 3 assists as a team.

But Abram and Elkinton, along with 29 combined points from Batcho and Newman, came alive in the final 20 minutes on five made threes, most notably when Elkinton sparked a big Tech run that saw the Bulldogs pull ahead 60-51. Abram's contributions went far beyond his box score (13 points) as he was the primary defender on Liberty's leading scorer Kaden Metheny, who came in averaging 14.3 ppg. Abram locked up Metheny to just 1-8 shooting on the night as the Flames' top guard went the first 10 minutes of the game with a single shot attempt.

"That's the Amaree Abram I know. He is one of the best defenders I've seen at his position," Hester said. "If he locks in every night, that's what he's capable of doing. Hopefully we lit a fire under him because that was an unbelievable performance. It was the best performance of the day we had. I know people want to look at points. But if he doesn't do that to Metheny, we don't win this basketball game. I'm proud of him."

It was a stark difference from a Tech team that lost its first two CUSA contest by double digits and went away from its defensive identity for much of the road trip. Abram, who sat alongside Batcho postgame, felt it was the wakeup call the Bulldogs needed before taking on FIU and Liberty.

"I feel like we needed those losses. It helped us lock in a little more and I feel like we're the best team at home," Abram said. "I feel like we did a good job as a whole. I know I was guarding him [Metheny] the whole game but my teammates helped me do it and everybody played their part."

Newman and Batcho had 13 of Tech's first 15 points of the second half, that was until it became Elk season at the TAC as the backup big man went on a hot streak to score 10 points off the bench, including two three-pointers to help Tech build a 60-51 lead, bringing fans to their feet as the Flames went over 4:00 without a field goal as the Bulldogs drained threes and free throws.

"He was a huge part," Hester said of Elkinton. "When he came in the game, it was a one-point game and by the time he leaves we're up nine. Twelve points in six minutes is dynamic."

The Flames punched back once again, getting it down to 60-56 with 7:39 to play but Newman and Batcho continued their efforts and kept Liberty at bay.

Later, Newman found Abram for another three to make it 71-62 Tech. The Flames made it interesting down the stretch, going on a 12-8 run in the final three minutes to get it to within a one-score game at one point. But after late free throws from Batcho, who put up a season-high 12 rebounds in the win, Tech survived Liberty's comeback.

Liberty's Taelon Peter nearly won the game himself with a game-high 33 points and five three-pointers, but no other Flame had more than 13.

Among the other stats that helped Tech pull off the win, the Bulldogs out-rebounded Liberty 44-23, double up the Flames in second-chance points, and went 88% at the line compared to Liberty who missed six free throws.

LA Tech (13-4, 2-2 CUSA) returns to action on Thursday on the road at Jacksonville State (9-7, 1-2 CUSA) in Jacksonville, Alabama. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.