UTEP Miners

Final Stats

Louisiana Tech 77, UTEP 60 (Box Score) 

Louisiana Tech nailed eight three pointers in the first half, then Michale Kyser put on a dunking display in the second half as the Bulldogs cruised to a 77-60 win over UTEP on Thursday at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Louisiana Tech (22-7, 13-3 C-USA) won its 27th consecutive game in Ruston, maintaining its first-place standing in Conference USA while knocking UTEP (19-8, 11-4) a game and a half off the pace with three league games remaining.

The Miners' seven-game winning streak came to an end.

"We were beaten by a team that just played really terrific basketball tonight," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "They moved the ball and played great defensively."

UTEP never led. After Cedrick Lang's layup made it 3-2, the Bulldogs scored seven straight points to build a 10-2 advantage. The Miners closed the gap to five (13-8) on an offensive rebound and putback by Hooper Vint, but LA Tech answered with a 10-4 spurt. UTEP was once again able to get within five (23-18) on a Julian Washburn layup with 5:48 on the clock, but the Bulldogs scored the next seven to make it a 12-point game.

Louisiana Tech was 8-for-15 from three-point range in the first half.

"Their pressure seemed to really bother us," Floyd said. "We had an inability to guard the three-point line, which started with a lack of ability to get back on defense."

Louisiana Tech led 38-29 at halftime, then opened the second half with an 11-2 run to put the Miners down by 18 (49-31).

An 8-2 run by UTEP sliced the deficit to 12 (51-39), but Floyd picked up consecutive technicals while arguing a foul call on Vint and was ejected. The Bulldogs made all four free throws to stretch it to 16 (55-39), pushed it to 20 shortly after (61-41), and the Miners were buried.

Erik McCree and Raheem Appleby combined for 23 points in the first half. Kyser scored all eight of his points in the second half when he was 4-for-4 from point blank range, mostly off of lobs.

When the Miners cut it to 15 (75-60) with 49 seconds remaining on two free throws by Earvin Morris, it was the closest they had been since the 9:42 mark.

"I thought our poise was nowhere near where it needed to be," Floyd said. "It started in the first four minutes of both halves. They were both brutal, brutal halves. As a result, we got beaten by a better team. They just thoroughly whipped us."

Lang led the Miners with a season-high 18 points. He had his fifth double-double of the season and the eighth of his career with 10 rebounds.

Washburn had a near double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, and Morris scored 11 points.

Appleby and Kenneth Smith led Louisiana Tech with 17 points each. McCree scored 14 and snagged 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs are last in C-USA in rebound margin, but have beaten the Miners on the boards in both games this season. They completely dominated the glass, 44-34, on Thursday.

The Miners will play their final C-USA road game of the season on Saturday at Southern Miss. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. MT. The game will not be televised. The English radio broadcast is available on KOFX 92.3 FM, and the Spanish radio broadcast can be heard on ESPN Deportes 1650 AM.