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Jeremy Johnston hit three free throws at the end of second half as Louisiana Tech held off McNeese State for a 69-68 win on Saturday.
Louisiana Tech (4-4) was down 30-23 at the halftime but outscored McNeese State (3-6) 46-38 in the second half.
The Bulldogs put
together a 23-13 run in the first eight minutes of the final period to take
a three point lead. With 31 seconds left, Tech led 69-63.
Eldridge Lewis made McNeese's final five points, hitting a 3-pointer as time
ran out.
Paul Millsap led the Bulldogs with 17 points and Donell Allick added 16, 14 of those coming in the second half. Millsap also pulled in 11 rebounds.
The Cowboys, on a six-game losing streak, had four double figure scorers. Edward Garriet led with 15 points, Lewis and Monte' Farmer each had 11 and Ronald Dorsey came off the bench for 10.
Tech was 25-of-39 at the free throw line and the Cowboys were 21-of-25 from the line. Tech held a 38-31 rebounding edge.
``We took a lot of bad shots,'' Smith said. ``That's the same thing we preached before. We reverted back to things we were doing in early games that I kept harping on. It becomes contagious. It wasn't one guy, it was everybody.''
Both teams entered the game ranked, the first time that happened since Dec. 31, 1996.
Louisville's win
also ended a strange streak -- the winner of the annual Kentucky-Louisville
football game had lost the basketball game between the schools each year since
the football rivalry was resumed in 1994. Louisville won this year's football
game 40-24.