Boxscore

RUSTON, La. -- Louisiana Tech won its seventh out of the last eight games Saturday as the Bulldogs took a 72-55 win over San Jose State before 2,555 at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Tech has won two straight and took sole possession of third place in the Western Athletic Conference at 13-9 overall and 8-5 in the WAC while San Jose State fell to 6-15 and 3-9.

The Bulldogs used a balanced scoring attack with their five starters all adding to the mix while Barry Thompson came off the bench to add eight points and three assists in nine minutes of first-half play.

Daevon Haskins and Corey Dean scored 14 each to lead Tech while Paul Millsap and Donell Allick chipped in with 13 points each. Millsap picked up his
15th double-double of the season but added 13 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.

"The way San Jose played defense made it impossible for Paul (Millsap) to have one of his 25-point nights," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "We needed that
kind of balance because they weren't going to let Paul take over."

Louisiana Tech connected on 51.9 percent (28-of-54) of its shots on the night while holding the Spartans to a 40.0 shooting percentage (22-of-55). San Jose
State had hit on 14-of-25 3-point attempts in an 88-87 win over the Bulldogs on Jan. 13, but this time Tech held SJSU to 2-of-10 long-distance shots.

"Our No. 1 point of emphasis was to guard the 3-point shot," Richard said. "To hold that team to 2-of-10 was a very good job. We set a goal of holding them to less than five 3-pointers and exceeded that."

Richard said Thompson's performance off the bench in the first half helped spark the Bulldogs to a nine-point halftime advantage at 36-26.

"We played our starters an extreme amount of minutes on Thursday (in a win over Hawaii)," Richard said. "Those eight points lifted us and helped us stretch out that lead going in at halftime."

Tech had jumped out to an early 14-4 lead with 13:14 remaining in the opening stanza, but in a game of early runs for both teams, San Jose State quickly battled back and moved out in front by as many as two at 20-18 with 6:44 left before intermission.

But Thompson's first basket, a 3-pointer with 6:11 remaining in the opening half, put the Bulldogs back out in front for good at 21-20.

"Barry's role was huge," Haskins said. "We needed that spark. We needed a 3-point shooter in there and he came in and got us going."

San Jose State never really made a run after halftime, getting as close as eight points back twice in the second half but never getting any closer. But
Richard said he knew the Spartans were capable of making a move at any moment.

"That game was closer than it looks in the second half," Richard said. "It was two or three baskets for San Jose away from being real tight down the stretch. You could feel that."

San Jose State's Marquin Chandler led all scorers with 16 points and added 12 rebounds while Eric Bloom added 13 points for the Spartans. Michael McFadden rounded out SJSU's double-figure scorers with 10 points.

Tech also won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding San Jose State 35-26.

The Bulldogs return to action on Wednesday as Tech plays a 7 p.m. contest
at Southern Methodist.