BATON ROUGE, La. -- Alex Hamilton scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds Friday night, leading Louisiana Tech to an 85-76 win against Southern in the season opening game for both teams.

Four of five starters had 10 or more points for Louisiana Tech, with Erik McCree adding 17 points and eight boards, and Raheem Appleby and Kenneth Smith each finishing with 15 apiece. Overall the Bulldogs drew 30 Jaguar fouls and got to the free-throw line 40 times.

Joell Hopkins led the Jaguars with 13 points. Christopher Hyder, Trelun Banks, and Adrian Rodgers each added nine.

The game was back and forth the entire way, with neither side opening up more than a five point lead until 7:13 left in the game, when a Hamilton layup gave the Bulldogs a 66-59 lead.