Boxscore

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7-16; 5-6 WAC) were very closely beaten by the San Jose Spartans (4-19; 3-8 WAC) 53-50 Thursday night in the Event Center.

?It was a tale of two halves for us,? Tech head coach Keith Richard said. ?We weren?t effective at all in first half, and there was not enough in the second half to get us down the stretch. Missed shots were the theme of the night for us. We couldn?t get the plays we needed to win.?

San Jose got on the scoreboard first, but Tech answered with a pair of baskets from sophomore Drew Washington and senior Jerome Richardson to take a 4-2 lead. The Spartans tied the game again at the 14:59 mark and regained the lead with a three-pointer from senior Carlton Spencer with 12:51 left in the half. Spencer added another basket before the under-12 media timeout to give San Jose a 9-4 lead.

The Spartans continued to outscore the Bulldogs and led 24-13 at halftime.

A 7-0 run capped off by a Washington three-pointer in the second half, however, helped pull the Spartan lead back down to 32-27 with 14:20 on the clock. The Bulldogs would continue to battle back throughout the second half and retook the lead thanks to Richardson, who slammed a missed shot back home with 3:49 left in the game to take a 46-45 lead. The teams all but traded baskets for the remainder of the game, but it would be San Jose State that would finish with the 53-50 win.

?I don?t know what happened to us offensively,? Richard said. ?The first half was brutal. We did a good job of crawling back in it and making defensive plays in the second half.?

Senior Chad McKenzie finished with 14 points and six rebounds to lead the Bulldogs in scoring. All McKenzie?s points came in the second half. Senior Trey McDowell added 13 points for Tech.

The Bulldogs will remain on the road to take on Hawaii Saturday, Feb. 10, in the Stan Sheriff Center. Tip off is set for 11:05 p.m. CST.