Boxscore Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard's bench may not go very deep, but there's still plenty of talent riding there.
Tech's reserves played a crucial role Saturday as the Bulldogs took a 74-69 overtime win over SMU before a crowd of 2,000 at the Thomas Assembly Center.
The game was Tech's second consecutive overtime contest and the third in the last five games for the Bulldogs. Tech lost in overtime to San Jose State on Feb. 14 and took a double-overtime win over Fresno State on Feb. 5.
Tech is now 13-11 overall and 7-7 in the Western Athletic Conference while SMU fell to 10-14 and 4-10.
Corey Dean tied his career high with 23 points to lead Tech while
Paul Millsap collected his 15th double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but it was the play of
Barry Thompson and
Jeremy Johnston off of Tech's bench that Richard felt was probably most valuable for his squad against the Mustangs.
Thompson tied his career high of 13 points and added four rebounds and two assists while Johnston totaled three points and six rebounds along with a career-best two steals. Johnston also tied a career-high in blocked shots with one.
"Without question the game ball goes to
Barry Thompson and
Jeremy Johnston," Richard said. "They came off the bench and provided the spark we needed to finally get going."
Louisiana Tech struggled early on and trailed by as many as 16 points at the 7:36 mark of the first half after SMU's Patrick Simpson connected on the first of a pair of free throws.
The Bulldogs still trailed 50-40 with 10:00 remaining in regulation before making their move, with Millsap scoring six points on three outside shots and Dean adding a basket to cut the Mustangs advantage to 50-48 with 8:05 left in the second half.
"Those three shots Paul hit at from the high post changed our offensive play and finally got us going," Richard said. "They were a big part of our turnaround."
The first tie of the contest came at 52-52 with 5:33 remaining in the second half, and Tech managed to pull out in front by as many as four points at 60-56 with 2:27 left before SMU's Bryan Hopkins nailed a late 3-pointer off of a pass from Justin Isham to tie things at 61-61 and push the contest in overtime.
Richard said he considered returning to his starting lineup in overtime before deciding to stay with the players who helped propel the team into post-regulation play.
"I thought about going back to our starters," Richard said. "But Barry and Jeremy earned the right to be in there at the end, win or lose."
Thompson scored eight points in overtime on a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws while Johnston added a steal after regulation play had ended.
"I just got the minutes," Thompson said. "I try to make the most of my playing time and do whatever I can to help the team win. I think knocking some of those shots down helped me stay in the game. I'm not worried about my numbers, I just want to help this team win and make it to the NCAA tournament."
While Thompson ended up providing the offensive output needed to get Tech past
SMU, Richard had defense on his mind when he put the 6-5, 230-pound junior into the contest.
"My main reason to put in Barry was to defensive rebound," Richard said. "SMU's guards were bigger than ours and they were getting offensive rebounds and second chances. I put him in to rebound and make shots."
Thompson said the team wasn't overly concerned at the half despite taking a 37-28 deficit into the locker room.
"SMU had a great first half offensively and we knew it would be tough for them to keep that up," Thompson said. "We knew we had to dig down on defense, and that's what we did."
That attitude worked for the Bulldogs, who held SMU to a 26.1 shooting percentage (6-of-23) in the second half after the Mustangs had hit on 50 percent (12-of-28) of their shots in the opening half.
SMU finished with a 38.3 shooting percentage (23-of-60) while Tech connected on 40.6 percent (26-of-64) of its total shots from the floor. The Bulldogs also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding SMU 44-39.
Tech returns to action on Thursday when the Bulldogs play host to UTEP in a 7 p.m. contest at the Thomas Assembly Center.
