Boxscore BOISE, Idaho -- An outstanding performance from sophomore forward
Paul Millsap went for naught Sunday as Boise State downed Louisiana Tech 79-75 before 3,388 at Taco Bell Arena.
The loss dropped Tech to 13-11 overall and 8-8 in the Western Athletic Conference while Boise State climbed to 13-15 and 16-11.
Millsap pulled down a career-high 25 rebounds and fell two points shy of his career-scoring best with 29 points, but it wasn't enough as the Bulldogs lost their fourth straight game after winning seven of their previous eight contests.
"We had one real player out there today," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "Paul was tremendous but he can't do it all himself. I feel sorry for him really because that was an All-American performance.
"It wasn't that we didn't try. That was our best pure effort in a couple of weeks. But our guards didn't play well. There were too many turnovers, especially unforced ones, and our guards didn't shoot well. It was a winning effort because our guys played hard. But you have to play well while you're playing hard and that's especially true on the road. We played hard but not well."
The game's tone was set early on as
Wayne Powell hit a 3-point just 2:04 into the contest to give the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead. But Powell came down on a Boise State's player's foot and injured his ankle and didn't return, leaving the arena following the game on crutches.
Because of that and because Richard was looking for the right mix to spur on his team, the Bulldogs' bench saw as much action as it has all season. But it was all to no avail as Tech couldn't manage to get past a Boise State it had defeated 93-60 earlier this season in Ruston, La.
Boise State built as much as a seven-point lead en route to a 38-33 halftime advantage. The Broncos stretched that lead to 12 points twice in the second half but the Bulldogs battled back, tying the game at 68-68 with 3:24 remaining on a Millsap layup plus free throw.
Millsap had a chance to put Tech up on top 20 seconds later but missed a pair of free throws and Boise State took care of business at the line from there to escape with the win as the Broncos hit on 9-of-10 free throws in the final 2:26 and 7-of-8 shots from the charity stripe in the final 28.9 seconds.
"Even we we got it back to 68-68 we didn't play well," Richard said. "We missed two free throws, gave up an offensive rebound and then turned it over two sraight times."
While Tech connected on 45.6 percent of its shots from the field (31-68) and out-rebounded Boise State 44-33, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 22 times and hit on only 6-of-16 attempted free throws while the Broncos sank 16-of-21 attempts from the charity stripe.
"I told our guards at the half that they were trying to do too much and making mistakes trying to be players they're not," Richard said. "You have to have good guard play. Today was a perfect example of that."
Millsap went 12-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-9 from the free-throw line while adding one assist and two steals in 35 minutes of play. Senior guard
Donell Allick was the only other Bulldog scoring in double figures with 19 points.
Jermaine Blackburn led Boise State with 18 points while Coby Karl and Franco Harris chipped in with 16 points each for the Broncos.
"It's disappointing because I felt like we tried," Richard said. "I wish we could have played better around Paul because he deserved it today."
Tech heads into the first of its final two regular season on Thursday as
the Bulldogs play host to Rice in a 6:30 p.m. contest at the Thomas Assembly Center.
