RUSTON, La. -- Rice slipped through the Bulldogs' hands Thursday as the Owls took a 65-63 win over Louisiana Tech before a crowd of 3,276 at the Thomas Assembly.

Louisiana Tech watched a 14-point lead and seven-game win streak evaporate as Rice battled back to take its second win of the season over the Bulldogs after defeating Tech 93-92 on Jan. 25 in Houston.

Tech fell to 12-10 overall and 9-6 in the Western Athletic Conference while Rice moved to 16-7 and 8-5.

The Bulldogs moved out in front 57-43 on an Antonio Meeking dunk with 12:56 remaining in the contest. But Tech went ice cold from there as a Meeking dunk with 9:04 left was the only shot the Bulldogs made from the floor in the final 12:55.

Rice trailed 63-62 with 1:00 remaining, but Yamar Diene's 3-point play on a layup and following free throw off a Bruce Edwards foul put the Owls up by two in the closing seconds. The Bulldogs turned the ball over with 46 seconds left, but Omar-Seli Mance missed a jumper for Rice to give the Bulldogs one last chance at redemption.

Lavelle Felton took the ball for the Bulldogs but missed on a 10-foot jumper in the paint as Rashid Smith rebounded for Rice and secured the win for the Owls as the final buzzer sounded.

"That was the shot we wanted," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "I wanted the ball in Lavelle's hands. He got off a good shot and one that he usually makes. It just didn't go in."

But while the Bulldogs got off the final attempt their coach was looking for, he wasn't happy with the way the team played in the final 10 minutes.

"We didn't play smart basketball in the final 10 minutes," Richard said. "We were up and we got confident and started doing our own little things. We quit playing together as a team on the offensive end, and it showed. We had a little rhythm going on early in the second half, but we let it get away."

The Bulldogs trailed 37-36 at intermission but came out strong to start the second half with four 3-pointers by Lavelle Felton and another by Michael Wilder helping to propel Tech to a 55-43 advantage with 13:49 remaining. But the Bulldogs soon went cold as Rice slowly climbed back into the contest.

Rice used the 3-point shot against the Bulldogs in the first half, connecting on all seven treys the Owls made before intermission. Rice moved inside in the second half after adjusting to Tech's defense.

"We took their 3's away, and they had to do something so they went inside with the ball," Richard said. "The big thing is that they got to the free throw line a bunch of times because we got soft inside."

Rice hit on 16-of-17 free throws in the contest, including 14-of-15 in the second half.

"Even we when had the lead we didn't play well," Richard said. "This wasn't the game we were looking for."

Meeking topped Tech with 18 points and added 10 rebounds while Felton chipped in with 17 points.

Jason McKrieth led Rice with 17 points.

Tech returns to action on Saturday as the Bulldogs play host to Northern Iowa in an ESPN Bracket Buster contest at noon in the Thomas Assembly Center. The game will be broadcast live in Louisiana on Cox Sports and ESPN will cut into the contest during coverage of other games.