Boxscore

Louisiana Tech picked up the pace in the second half Saturday as the Bulldogs downed Texas-San Antonio 73-64 before a crowd of 3,617 at the Thomas Assembly Center.

The win pushed the Bulldogs to 2-3 on the season while UTSA fell to 3-2.

Much of the game's focus was on the Battle of the Brothers Millsap, with Louisiana Tech sophomore Paul Millsap going against older brother John Millsap, a senior forward for the Roadrunners.

While Tech came away with the win, John Millsap won round one of the "Brothers Battle" as he turned in 16 points and seven rebounds while Paul Millsap hit for 12 points and seven rebounds.

"It was tough out there, and real competitive," Paul Millsap said. "We were doing a little friendly trash-talking. He knows my techniques and everything and we work out together a lot when we can, and he played a pretty good game tonight."

The Millsap Brothers will get a rematch as Tech plays at Texas-San Antonio next Sunday after playing at Jackson State on Tuesday.

Tech hit on 47.5 percent (29-61) of its shots from the floor while UTSA connected on 39.3 percent (22-56) of its attempts from the floor. But while Tech did post the better shooting percentage, that didn't mean those shots came easy.

"I told the team after the game that I was pleased with the win because they grinded out this game," Tech coach Keith Richard said. We really didn't shoot the ball that well, but we were taking good shots. They just weren't falling. I want the players to know that I believe we'll get to shooting better, but I also wanted them to know you can win even without shooting the ball that well."

A Tech defensive effort that forced 23 UTSA turnovers played a big role in the win.

"We defended well, and that was the key," Richard said. "We missed a lot of shots on the offensive end, and that can get frustrating. But even with that frustration we still managed to defend well, and from my perspective that was the game."

Corey Dean poured in 17 points to lead Tech while point guard Daevon Haskins hit for a career-high 14 points along with three rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Donell Allick also chipped in with 12 points for the Bulldogs.

UTSA's Andre Ownes led all scorers with 26 points and also topped the Roadrunners with eight rebounds.

The Roadrunners won the battle of the boards, marking the first time this season the Bulldogs were outrebounded. UTSA collected 48 rebounds while Tech had only 31.

"They were averaging 19 offensive rebounds coming into this game," Richard said. "We knew that going in. We weren't physical enough in securing rebounds when we had chances against a team who we knew could rebound and caused us some problems on the boards."

Tech led 31-16 at intermission and stretched that lead to 15 points two different times midway through the second half. But a scrappy group of Roadrunners refused to back down, cutting the Tech lead to four points at 63-59 with 2:08 remaining before Tech finally pulled out the win.

The Bulldogs will next fact Jackson State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Jackson, Miss.