RUSTON, La. -- Finally the monkey jumped off the Bulldogs? backs Saturday at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Louisiana Tech snapped a five-game losing streak and closed out the regular season with a win as the Bulldogs downed Tulsa 91-82 .
Tech ended the regular season at 14-14 overall and 9-9 in the Western Athletic Conference while Tulsa fell to 9-19 and 5-13.
The win combined with a 80-75 double-overtime time victory for Rice over Southern Methodist gives the Bulldogs the No. 5 seed in the upcoming WAC tournament. Tech will play No. 4 Fresno State at 8 p.m. Thursday (CST) in Reno, Nev.
Louisiana Tech had dropped the five consecutive games after winning seven of their previous eight contests, so the win over Tulsa gives the ?Dogs much-needed momentum headed into the tourney.
?This is a huge win,? Tech senior guard
Corey Dean said. ?It was hard to practice yesterday after we lost on Thursday. This gets everybody?s energy back up on the positive side.
?It was a tough game. Tulsa didn?t want to quit either. They wanted to head into the tournament coming off a win too. We just hung in there and got it.?
Paul Millsap led the Bulldogs with 29 points and 14 rebounds while Dean chipped in with 19 points. But it was point guard
Daevon Haskins who seemed to pace the Bulldogs as the junior poured in a career-high 24 points while adding six assists.
?I didn?t play well Thursday (in a home loss to Rice) so I had to come back and play well tonight,?? Haskins said. ?I wanted to send our seniors out in a good way. I knew it was my last home game with them and I wanted to send them out with a bang."
Tech seniors Dean,
Donell Allick,
Wayne Powell and
Barry Thompson were each honored in a pregame ceremony.
The Bulldogs made a team effort of it, dishing off a team season-high 26 assists with Allick turning in seven of those along with 13 points. Allick?s seven assists marked a season high and tied his career high, which he has reached five times.
?I?m just really happy for our players and that they ended the regular season on a positive note,? Tech coach Keith Richard said. ?We really needed that win and it?s a great way to go into the conference tournament.?
Richard was pleased with his entire team but especially his guards and Haskins? offensive ingnition.
?
Paul Millsap played well as always, but our three starting guards played very well tonight, and as it showed, we?re much better when that happens,? Richard said. ?Daevon looked completely different physically than he did on Thursday night. He didn?t have that completely fatigued look he had against Rice.
?Those middle-range shots is where we?d like him to go and tonight he did a good job of hitting them. Hopefully in the future we have some things to look forward to from Daevon in those areas.?
Tech led 48-46 at intermission and Tulsa kept things tight the rest of the way. Tech led by as many as six before the Golden Hurricane cut it back to a two-point lead at 75-73 with 4:27 remaining.
But the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run from there and never looked back to make it a season sweep of the Golden Hurricane after winning 58-52 in Tulsa, Ok., on Dec. 30.
Jarius Glenn led Tulsa with 21 ppints while Anthony Price added 20 points for the Golden Hurricane.
