Boxscore

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Third time?s the charm.

For the past two seasons, San Jose State had controlled their own destiny at home against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

Not tonight.

The Bulldogs (13-7; 6-1 WAC) started an offensive onslaught that saw 48 first half points in a routing of conference foe San Joe State (5-13; 1-4 WAC) 75-55 in The Event Center Thursday, Jan. 26, in front of a crowd of 1,536 to keep Tech on top of the Western Athletic Conference.

?I?m happy and sad at the same time with this game,? head coach Keith Richard said. ?I?m obviously happy with the first half but sad with the second. I wanted us to be perfect, or course. We?re still in a learning process.?

The game started fairly close with the teams trading points back and forth for the first five minutes before Tech capped off a 7-2 run to take the lead at 18-11 with 15:01 in the first half.

The Bulldogs would never trail in the game and a steal and lay-up by junior forward Trey McDowell by faking out the inbounder with 9:03 to go before halftime kept a 23-11 run for the remainder of the half that saw the Bulldogs leading 48-28 going into the locker room.

After an explosive first half, the Bulldog offense began to slow down in the second half, but through great defensive play, they were able to keep San Jose in check and keep the lead in double figures for the rest of the game.

?Things really worked well in the first half,? Richard said. ?It really drives me nuts that we couldn?t play a perfect game.?

Junior forward and two-time NCAA rebounding champion Paul Millsap had an unusually quiet game by his standard scoring 10 points and only grabbing six rebounds; half below his seasonal average in points and rebounds per game.

?This was a real team victory,? Richard said. ?Millsap and (senior point guard Daevon) Haskins didn?t have great games and other guys really carried this team to victory.?

Junior forward Chad McKenzie and freshman point guard Drew Washington had their season bests with 12 points and six assists for McKenzie and nine points and four assists for Washington and were the two players Coach Richard praised after the game for stepping up and playing well.

?(McKenzie) really the tough plays,? Richard said. ?He made the right passes and hit a couple of open threes right when we needed them. He really looked confident out there. (Washington) was also a savior out there. His scoring in the first and second half really separated the lead when it needed to be extended. He was a big part of this game and played safe and hard.?

Both senior forward Michael Wilds and guard Corey Dean added eight points in the win, while McDowell chipped in with seven points.

The Bulldogs return to action again on the road Saturday night against Fresno State in the attempt to win the regular season WAC title. Tip off is set for 9 p.m.