ODU junior guard Trey Freeman (Virginia Beach, VA.) scored his ODU career high 27 points to lead the Monarchs (20-6/9-5) to a 72-53 Conference USA victory over league leader Louisiana Tech before a crowd of 8,019 at the Constant Center.
The win was ODU’s 19th straight at home (Louisiana Tech was the last team to beat ODU at the Ted) and are 15-0 this year.
ODU never trailed, jumping out to a 11-0 lead with 15:19 left in the first half, and 39-21 lead at halftime. In the second half, the Monarchs led by 22, 50-28 with 11:14 remaining after a Freeman layup.
The Bulldogs who rank second in C-USA in scoring, averaging 73.7 points per game cut the ODU margin to 14, 63-49 with 3:38 left in the game after a layup by erik McCree, but could get no closer as senior forard Richard Ross (Wichita Falls, TX.) scored four straight points to push the lead to 18.
Junior guard Aaron Bacote (Hampton, VA. ) joined Freeman in double figures with 10 points tonight, while Jonathan Arledge (Silver Spring, MD.) , Jordan Baker (Hampton, VA.) both scored eight points each and junior forward Javonte Douglas (Charlotte, NC.) and Ross added seven each.
ODU outrebounded the Bulldogs, 39-36 led by sophomore Denzell Taylor (Ontario, Canada) who started tonight and hauled down nine boards and Freeman added seven recoveries. ODU finished the game shooting .491 (26-53) from the field while LA Tech shot .315 (18-57).
LA Tech was led by Raheem Appleby with 10 points, while Kenneth Smith led with seven rebounds and three assists.
The Monarchs return to action on the road when they travel to Houston to play at Rice on thrsday at 8 p.m. (ET) and then to Denton, TX. to play at North Texas on Saturday at 5:30 (ET). The North Texas game will be televised live on the American sports Network.
NOTE: The 8,019 on hand today was the 39th time with a crowd of over 8,000 since the Ted opened its doors in 2002.
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