HONOLULU ? Louisiana Tech gave Hawaii all they could handle but the Bulldogs could not overcome serious foul trouble and a 32% shooting outing as the Rainbow Warriors defeated Tech, 57-53, late Saturday night before 7,706 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The win gives Hawaii a 10-2 overall record including 3-1 in Western Athletic Conference play. Tech falls to 5-5 and 2-1 in WAC play.
Tech was whistled for 22 fouls and shot only 10 free throws as opposed to 27 free throws for the Rainbow Warriors in the contest.
"Our kids competed extremely hard, I could not be prouder of our kids," Tech head coach Keith Richard said. "They competed in a very tough environment in one of the toughest places to play in the country and almost came away with a victory."
The Hawaii victory was its 21st straight on its home court and 17th home win in a row in WAC play.
Antonio Meeking led Tech with 23 points and 12 rebounds while
Lavelle Felton added 11 points and six rebounds for Tech. Meeking also had four blocked shots which tied a career high for the senior.
The biggest lead in the game was seven points for Hawaii with 11:24 remaining in the game.
Tech played the last seven minutes of the game without starters
Darrian Brown and
Michael Wilder who fouled out.
Tech chipped away at the Rainbow Warrior advantage and trimmed a seven point second half Hawaii lead to two points on a pair free throws by Meeking with 44.0 seconds left.
Hawaii answered with a bucket in the last 15 second to ice the win for the Rainbow Warriors.
Carl English led Hawaii with 25 points and Phil Martin added 19.
Louisiana Tech led most of the first half before Hawaii closed the first 20 minutes on a 7-0 run. The Bulldogs? largest lead in the first half was seven at 16-9 with 9:10 left in the half. This occurred despite battling foul trouble in the first half as the Rainbow Warriors shot the bonus for the last 12 minutes of the half. Meeking led Tech in the first half with nine points.
Tech shot just 25.7% in the first half to Hawaii?s 34.8%.
"We gave up eight lay-ups in the second half of a low scoring game and that was the difference," Richard added.
The Bulldogs return to action on Thursday when Tech hosts Nevada at 7:00 p.m. in Thomas Assembly Center.
