Appleby leads Louisiana Tech past Samford 77-64

RUSTON, La. (AP) Raheem Appleby scored 20 points and Alex Hamilton added 19 points and had five steals to lead Louisiana Tech past Samford 77-64 on Friday night.

Alex Peters scored to pull Samford within a bucket, 37-35 with 15:36 to play. Appleby answered with 12-straight points, Erik McCree scored and Hamilton chipped in four points to cap an 18-2 run and stretch Louisiana Tech's lead to 55-37 with 10:25 left.

Kenneth Smith dished out six assists for Louisiana Tech (5-1).

Christen Cunningham scored to give Samford a 20-19 lead with 7:03 left in the first half. Louisiana Tech closed on a 15-7 run to take a 34-27 halftime advantage and led the rest of the way.

Darius Jones-Gibson scored 16 points, Cunningham had 11 points and Alex Peters 10 for Samford (2-5), who shot just 3 of 19 (15.8 percent) from 3-point range.