Boxscore

Turnovers and trouble finding the basket were costly for Louisiana Tech Saturday as the Bulldogs lost a 56-53 overtime contest to San Jose State at Walt McPherson Court.

San Jose State snapped a 13-game losing skid with the win and moved to 6-16 overall and 1-11 in the Western Athletic Conference while Tech fell to 12-11 and 6-7.

The Bulldogs hit on only 31.9 percent (15-47) of their shots from the floor, including 23.8 percent (5-21) in the opening half.

Tech also turned the ball over 20 times, with the Spartans scoring 19 points off of those turnovers. San Jose State turned the ball over 14 times resulting in 11 points for the Bulldogs.

Bulldogs coach Keith Richard made an early exit from the contest after being hit with a double-technical foul with 11:47 remaining in the second half.

Junior forward Wayne Powell led the Bulldogs with 16 points, thanks in large part to a surprising 3-for-3 performance from 3-point range for the big man who had missed all three career attempts from behind the 3-point arc heading into the contest.

Corey Dean added 12 points for Tech while Paul Millsap chipped in with six points while leading the Bulldogs with 10 rebounds.

Marquin Chandler led SJSU with 14 points while Eric Walton and Bim Okunrinboye added 11 points each for the Spartans.

Louisiana Tech led 19-18 at the half after trailing by as many as four points in the period. Both teams struggled to hit shots from the start, with Tech hitting on 4-of-18 (.222) attempts in the first 16:30 while the Spartans connected on 5-of-19 (.263) shots during the same time frame.

San Jose State finished with a .365 (19-52) shooting percentage and tied the Bulldogs on the boards as both teams pulled down 33 rebounds.

The Spartans came out stronger in the second half, leading by 10 points at the 11:47 mark and building as much as an 11-point advantage before the Bulldogs began battling back into the contest.

Powell put the Bulldogs within two at 43-41 with 1:29 remaining in regulation as he connected on his second 3-pointer, and the Bulldogs tied the game at 43-43 when Donell Allick made good on a pair of free throws with 45 seconds left in the second half.

The game was still tied at 43-43 at the end of regulation play and the Bulldogs looked like they would pull it out early in the overtime period as Tech went up by five at 51-46 after Powell hit his third 3-pointer with 3:01 left. But the Spartans would outscore the Bulldogs 10-2 the rest of the way pull off their first WAC win of the season and their first overall victory since defeating Baylor on Dec. 20.

Dean's jumper put the Bulldogs within one at 54-53 with 18 seconds left in overtime before Okunrinboye sank a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining for San Jose State's final points of the game.

Tech had one last chance to go for the win, but SJSU's Maurice Moore stole the ball from Eric Woods with six seconds left on the clock to secure the win for the Spartans.

The Bulldogs return to action next Saturday as Tech plays host to Southern Methodist in a 2 p.m. contest in the Thomas Assembly Center.