Millsap, Bulldogs undermine 'Bows

Louisiana Tech has made a habit of beating Hawaii to the punch at the end of close games

RUSTON, La. » Last night's matchup between Hawaii and Louisiana Tech, billed as a key showdown in the Western Athletic Conference basketball race, lived up to its pregame hype and LaTech again pulled out a close win over the Rainbow Warriors.

LATECH 65 HAWAII 62 NEXT UP vs. NMSU tomorrow

Louisiana Tech forward Paul Millsap scored 23 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, his third consecutive double-double and 55th of his career, to lead the Bulldogs to a 65-62 victory at the Thomas Assembly Center. No other LaTech player scored in double figures, but UH posted four double-digit scorers.

Junior guard Matt Lojeski led the Rainbows (8-5, 2-1 WAC) with 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting. Forwards Matthew Gipson and Ahmet Gueye scored 14 points each, and Julian Sensley finished with 11.

Lojeski had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but his 3-pointer from the right wing went in the cylinder and rolled back out, as the Bulldogs (10-6, 3-0) celebrated their third straight WAC win.

After posting wins over Utah State and Nevada, Sensley said a win over the Bulldogs would have given UH a firm hold of the top spot early in the WAC race.

"It's always tough to come in here and try to win a game," Sensley said. "It would have been huge because it would have put us in a secure spot in first place. Unfortunately we just came up short. They're a good team, and we look forward to playing them at home. If we could have stolen one here, it would have been big for this program."

The win was LaTech's fourth straight over UH, which has lost 17 of its last 19 road games heading into tomorrow's game at New Mexico State. The Aggies beat Fresno State 73-70 last night.

LaTech's last four wins in the series have come by a total of seven points.

"We knew it was going to be hard going in," Millsap said. "We had to grind the whole 40 minutes. They're a good team. They run a good offense and everything. We know we have to play hard against them every time."

LaTech controlled the tempo for the first 30 minutes before the 'Bows took their first lead at 48-47 with 10:23 left to play on two free throws by Deonte Tatum. A dunk by Gipson off a steal by Tatum on the Bulldogs' next possession gave UH its largest lead of the game at 50-47.

Louisiana Tech regained the lead at 54-53 with 5 minutes remaining when Millsap drained just the fifth 3-pointer of his career. The nation's second-leading rebounder and WAC's second-leading scorer seemed to have every answer.

"Paul Millsap is such an excellent post player, and we have a hard time guarding him," Sensley said. "When you have someone like that, their whole team feeds off him. They made runs on us, and it seemed like the whole team was in on it just off Millsap's play."

UH briefly regained the lead at 57-56 when Gueye buried a 16-foot jumper with 2:47 left to play. Then two turnovers led to four LaTech points, and UH never regained the lead.

Millsap stole the ball from Tatum, who was trapped in the corner on LaTech's press. Millsap then scored on a putback while being fouled and made the free throw.

Tatum again turned over the basketball on UH's next possession, which led to two free throws by LaTech point guard Daevon Haskins to give the Bulldogs a 61-57 lead.

"That's the coach's fault because I should have gotten him out of there probably around the 10-minute mark for a couple minutes rest," UH coach Riley Wallace said of Tatum's key turnovers. "He was tired, in his defense there."

Sensley hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:18 left to bring the Rainbows within one point at 61-60.

"That's two years in a row at our place that Corey Dean did a good job (on Sensley)," Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard said. "He lost concentration on him for 1 second, and he hit that 3 on him on that out-of-bounds play. That's how good a player (Sensley) is."

UH took possession with 6.6 seconds remaining with a chance to tie after the Bulldogs made just two of four free throws down the stretch, but Lojeski's shot just rimmed out.

Both Sensley and Gipson credited Tech's increased defensive pressure late in the game as keys to the loss.

"Tech started to pressure us in the end," Gipson added. "They played with more energy and were more aggressive than us toward the end, and we played flat during that time. They got turnovers off their pressure and made them count with points."

Notes: Seven NBA scouts were in attendance to watch Sensley and Millsap. ... With Gueye's three blocks, he now has at least one block in all 13 games this season. ... Gipson has scored in double figures in five consecutive games. ... Nine players scored for LaTech, including 19 points from the bench, and UH didn't get any points from its three bench players.

Louisiana Tech 65, Hawaii 62

RAINBOW WARRIORS (8-5, 2-1 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Gipson	6	8	0	2	37	8	0	14
Lojeski	5	13	4	4	37	2	0	15
Tatum	3	9	2	2	34	3	10	8
Sensley	5	9	0	2	40	5	1	11
Gueye	6	10	2	4	32	7	2	14
Wilder	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
Waters	0	1	0	0	6	1	0	0
Botez	0	2	0	2	11	3	0	0
TEAM						4
Totals	25	52	8	16	200	33	13	62

BULLDOGS (10-6, 3-0 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Wilds	3	7	0	0	21	5	0	7
Haskins	0	3	2	2	29	1	5	2
Elliott	1	6	3	4	20	1	1	6
Dean	1	3	6	7	26	0	0	8
Millsap	9	19	4	7	32	18	1	23
McKenzie	2	6	4	4	19	2	0	9
Washington	1	1	0	0	11	0	0	2
Richardson	1	5	1	2	20	2	1	3
Disy	0	0	0	0	8	1	0	0
McDowell	2	4	0	0	14	2	2	5
						3
Totals	20	54	20	26	200	35	10	65

Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.

Halftime -- Louisiana Tech 36, Hawaii 30.

3-point goals -- Hawaii 4-16 (Gipson 2-3, Sensley 1-5, Lojeski 1-6, Tatum 0-2), Louisiana Tech 5-15 (Millsap 1-1, Elliott 1-2, McKenzie 1-2, McDowell 1-2, Wilds 1-5, Richardson 0-3). Personal fouls --Hawaii 18, Louisiana Tech 11. Technical fouls--Richardson.

Steals -- Hawaii 4 (Tatum 2, Gipson, Lojeski), Louisiana Tech 8 (Haskins 2, Dean 2, Millsap 2, McKenzie, Richardson). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 7 (Gueye 3, Botez 2, Gipson, Sensley), Louisiana Tech 3 (Millsap 2, Dean). Turnovers -- Hawaii 15 (Tatum 5, Sensley 3, Gueye 2, Lojeski 2, Gipson, Waters, Botez), Louisiana Tech 12 (Haskins 4, Elliott 3, Dean 3, Richardson, McDowell). Officials -- Harris, Thornley, Whitehead. A -- 2,916.

WAC standings

	WAC	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Louisiana Tech	3	0	1.000	--	10	6
Hawaii	2	1	.667	1	8	5
Nevada	2	1	.667	1	12	3
New Mexico State	2	1	.667	1	6	8
Utah State	2	2	.500	1 1/2	10	4
Fresno State	1	1	.500	1 1/2	8	5
Boise State	1	2	.333	2	8	6
San Jose State	0	2	.000	2 1/2	4	11
Idaho	0	3	.000	3	3	10

Yesterday

Louisiana Tech 65, Hawaii 62

New Mexico State 73, Fresno State 70

Utah State 75, Boise State 69

Nevada 70, Idaho 44

Tomorrow

Hawaii at New Mexico State

Fresno State at Lousiana Tech

Idado at Utah State

Boise State at Nevada