Boxscore

Nevada took control late in the first half and then held off a furious second-half rally by Louisiana Tech as the Wolf Pack went on to a 71-67 win over the Bulldogs Thursday at the Lawlor Events Center.

The loss dropped Louisiana Tech to 7-6 overall and 1-2 in the Western Athletic Conference while Nevada climbed to 8-4 and 2-1.

Freshman standout Paul Millsap led the Bulldogs with 21 points and a career-high 21 rebounds. The Bulldogs received a major scare when Millsap went down with a twisted ankle 3:14 remaining, but was back on the court for the final minute of play after being taped up by Tech trainer Ryan Zink.

Nevada led 38-28 at the half, but the Bulldogs made a move midway through the second half, cutting the Nevada lead to nine at 60-51 with 7:39 remaining as Millsap completed a three-point play with a inside basket and free throw after drawing the foul.

JueMichael Young's 3-pointer seconds later cut Nevada's lead to 60-54 as the Bulldogs fought for the come-from-behind win.

Tech cut the Wolf Pack lead to four at 65-61 on a short jumper from Jeremy Johnston with just over four minutes left, and then again at 67-63 with 2:30 remaining on an inside basket from Wayne Powell.

Young's layup with 1:22 remaining cut the Nevada advantage to 67-65, but the Wolf Pack stretched the lead to on a pair of Kevinn Pinkney free throws with 58.4 seconds left.

Corey Dean nailed a baseline jumper with 44.4 seconds left to put Tech within two at 69-67, but Nevada sealed the win with a Garry Hill-Thomas 18-foot jumper with 10 seconds remaining on the clock.

"It was a good run for us at the end," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "We showed toughness and didn't quit, but it wasn't quite enough. In the last five minutes I can named four or five things we could have done to help us pull off the win, but we didn't get it done."

The Bulldogs kept things close early on and had a chance to put some distance between themselves and the Wolf Pack at the 7:36 mark of the first half when Nevada coach Trent Johnson was hit with a technical foul. Eric Woods hit a pair of free throws for the Bulldogs to give Tech a 25-22 lead and the ball.

But Tech turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, and that was the last lead the Bulldogs would hold as Nevada pulled out to the 38-28 advantage at intermission.

"We had nine turnovers and eight missed free throws out of 15 attemtps in the first half," Richard said. "That helped them to the 10-point spread at the half, and we couldn't quit overcome that spread at the end."

Wayne Powell added 16 points for the Buuldogs while Young chipped in with 11 points.

Nevada had five players score in double-figures, led by Kirk Snyder's 16 points.

Todd Okeson, Nick Fazekas and Marcellus Kemp added 12 points each for the Wolf Pack while Hill-Thomas ended with 11 points.

Louisiana Tech, the No. 7 rebounding team in the nation, finished with 46 boards while holding Nevada to 30.

The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday when Louisiana Tech plays at Fresno State in a 9 p.m. contest at the Save-Mart Center.