Boxscore Louisiana Tech drained 14 three-pointers to pace past UL-Lafayette 85-78 in only the Bulldogs' second home game of the season before a crowd of 3,817 at the Thomas Assembly Center Tuesday night.
Tech (5-4) has now won seven consecutive games over UL-Lafayette at home (1-5), and much credit was due to the barrage of three-pointers raining down from the Bulldogs.
After Tech shot only .299 percent from three-point land in its previous eight games, the Bulldogs made 14 of 26 three-pointers (53.8 percent) for their second highest team total in school history, and the explosion led to the Bulldogs' highest point total of the season.
It was a career night for three Bulldogs, as senior point guard
Daevon Haskins had a career-high 10 assists with only two turnovers. He also had six points, two rebounds and three steals in 32 minutes.
Senior forward
Michael Wilds made a career-high five three-pointers in six attempts and also scored a career-high 15 points. And finally, junior guard
Marcus Elliott made a career-high four three-pointers to push a career-high 21 points.
Tech junior forward
Paul Millsap recorded 24 points and 19 rebounds, which was one shy of the facility record for individual rebounds in a game. Millsap holds the record with 20 boards against Nevada on Feb. 6, 2004.
The double-double was the 49th of Millsap's career, moving him past Randy White for sole possession of second place on Tech's career double-doubles list. He bumped his scoring average to 20.0 points per game and his rebounding average to 12.3 per game. Entering the contest, Millsap was 50th in the NCAA in scoring average and tied for seventh in rebounding.
The Bulldogs controlled the game from the opening tip, as Haskins scored the game's first two points. UL-Lafayette tied Tech one time in the contest, when the score was knotted at 5-5, but the Bulldogs opened another lead on a three-pointer by
Jerome Richardson and never looked back.
The Bulldogs held their biggest lead of the game at 70-55 with 8:24 remaining in the game before UL-Lafayette made a surge for the victory. The Ragin' Cajuns went on a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to pull within 72-65, but Tech withstood the comeback with three-pointers by Wilds and Elliott and free throws by Millsap down the stretch.
Tech head coach Keith Richard earned win number 125 and upped his record in the Thomas Assembly Center to 65-19. He and the Bulldogs will look to continue their winning at home by hosting McNeese State University on Saturday at 3 p.m.
