BoxscoreRUSTON -- Even with a couple of Boise scares, Louisiana Tech?s (7-15; 5-5 WAC) hard work and hustle proved too much for the Broncos (11-10; 5-5 WAC) as the Bulldogs won the WAC contest 84-76 at home Saturday night.
?This was a very good win tonight,? Tech head coach Keith Richard said. ?Things just went great for us offensively in the second half. Our three-point shooting and offensive rebounding tonight were big for us tonight.?
The Bulldogs came out of the chute scoring and led by as many as 18 in the first half. Senior
Harry Disy finished the period with 10 points and six rebounds including a dunk-and-a-foul with 9:32 on the clock that kept the crowd in the ballgame. Boise, however, chipped at the lead for the remainder of the first half and only had a 32-25 deficit going into the locker room.
Both teams made up for the limited scoring in the first half, but it would be Tech who would keep enough ahead of the Broncos to get the 84-76 win with the Bulldogs scoring 52 second-half points and Boise scoring 51.
?Our defense in the first half was excellent,? Richard said. ?We?ve been having trouble stopping people in the second half, but we played well enough tonight to get the win. To our guys? credit, when (Boise) came back, our guys refocused and put pressure on the ball. We wound up getting a few steals and stopped their run.?
For the second game in a row, five Bulldogs finished with double figures in scoring, led by seniors
Chad McKenzie and
Jerome Richardson along with sophomore
Drew Washington; all with 14 points. Senior
Trey McDowell finished the night with 12 to add to Disy?s first-half 10.
?We needed this win tonight,? Richard said. ?I didn?t care how it got done; this team needed to win this game. And when we score 84 points, I have to believe we?ll win any game.?
Tech returns to the road for WAC play with San Jose State Thursday, Feb. 8. Tip off is set for 9 p.m. CST.
