BoxscoreRENO, Nev. -- The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs proved Thursday afternoon that winning doesn?t have to be pretty.
After building a 31-28 halftime lead, the Bulldogs (20-11; 11-5 WAC) were finally able to pull away in the last eight minutes of the ballgame to get their third win this season over the Boise State Broncos (14-15; 6-10 WAC) 75-64 in the Lawlor Events Center in the quarter finals of the 2005-06 Western Athletic Conference tournament.
?It?s been the story of the season for us,? Tech head coach Keith Richard said. ?Defend, defend, defend, find some offense, defend, defend, defend. Very typical of our team. It?s just us. We?re not a very good offensive team, but we?ve won 20 games. That says a lot.?
Boise State kept it close in the first half and built as much as a five point lead at 21-16 with 6:09 left to go in the first half.
The Bulldogs, however, outscored their Gem State opponents 15-7 for the remainder of the half and took the lead into the halftime locker room.
?We guarded the three-point line very well,? Richard said. ?We pressured the perimeter players, and that played a huge part in us forcing 19 turnovers. We defended them like we wanted to, and that?s our usual style of defense.?
Tech was able to find some more offense in the second half and got a seven point lead 51-44 with 10:16 remaining in the game.
Boise edged closer with a 6-1 run, but the Bulldogs answered with a 5-0 run of their own, and as time expired, Tech will be advancing to the semifinals to take on Utah State.
?The difference in this game compared to some others is that some of our three-pointers played a huge part,? Richard said after his team hit 6-of-18 for the game from behind the arc. ?We had a couple of guys knock some critical shots down to put us over the top for the win.?
Junior forward
Paul Millsap led the way for the Bulldogs with a total of 19 points and 17 rebounds. The Chairman of the Boards extended his rebounding lead in the NCAA to 13.6 boards per game. Junior guard
Trey McDowell also answered the call and dropped 13 points for Tech.
?We know (Millsap) has to play well,? Richard said. ?And he did tonight. Boise did a great job of guarding him down low, but he was able to step out and knock down some ten-footers. He certainly is one of the best players in the nation.?
Utah State played a close game with San Jose State in their quarterfinal game, but pulled away at the end to win 76-69. The semifinal game is set to tip off at 8:00 p.m. CST, but will be seen on taped delay on Cox Sports Local Channel 26. The game can also be heard on KXKZ 107.5 FM or by clicking on the multimedia link at www.latechsports.com. There is also a link for a live feed to watch by clicking ?Live WAC Basketball.?
