Tech dismantles UTEP again to move closer to title

Louisiana Tech is one step closer to its first outright regular season title since 1999.

Tech followed up its dominating January performance at UTEP with a series of championship-level blows as the Bulldogs cruised to a 77-60 win over the Miners on Thursday night at the Thomas Assembly Center in front of 5,126 fans.

The win paves the way for Tech (22-7, 13-3) to clinch its third straight conference title with just two games to play.

"It's unbelievable to know we're about to get three rings and I'm going out with a bang getting a ring," said senior guard Speedy Smith. "It is a great feeling. We played so hard and so intense and the fans were such an influence and they were so loud."

The Bulldogs, who extended their home winning streak to 27 games and snapped the Miners' seven-game win streak in the process, need to win just one of their final two games against either Texas- San Antonio or Southern Miss to potentially clinch the No. 1 seed in March's conference tournament and an automatic berth in the NIT.

UTEP (19-8, 12-4) fell into a second-place tie with UAB (11-4), although Tech holds the tiebreaker thanks to a 58-45 win at UTEP last month.

Seniors Speedy Smith and Raheem Appleby made up for last weekend's blowout loss at Old Dominion to lead Tech with 17 points each. Sophomore Erik McCree added 14 points and 12 rebounds, the latter of which helped the Bulldogs muscle their way to a 44-34 rebound advantage.

"We won the game really with the way we rebounded it and what we did offensively," Tech coach Michael White said. "I thought our guys we really unselfish getting each other good looks and just converting."

Tech capped a wire-to-wire win in arguably its best all-around game of the season thanks to strong defense and an efficient offense. The Bulldogs shot 45 percent from the field (9-of-20 from beyond the arc) and held the Miners, who entered as C-USA's leader in shooting percentage, to 37 percent from the field (3-of-17 from the 3-point line).

The defensive performance wasn't quite as stingy as January when Tech held UTEP to 12 second-half points, but it was enough for the Bulldogs to win convincingly.

And it was certainly the bounce-back game Tech needed after stumbling at Old Dominion.

"It looked like we played, from our last performance, it looked like a totally different team," Appleby said. "We played more physical, played more together and I think that just helped us get over the hump today."

There was little to complain about in a 17-point win, but the Bulldogs uncharacteristically committed 13 turnovers while forcing just seven by UTEP.

"We don't usually do that at home, especially when we play well," White said. "We've lost the turnover margin where we squeak out one against a team we're really supposed to beat."

Tech led by as many as 13 points in the first half before turning up the tempo to run away with the game after halftime.

Smith, who said earlier this week he planned to put blood and sweat into Thursday's game, scored the first five points of the second half, then dished out a no-look pass to Michale Kyser for a dunk to cap a 7-0 run and put the Bulldogs up 47-31.

"We were in these red uniforms and we smelled blood and we attacked," Smith said. "We did what we could. When we were on that run we just made defensive stops. Defensive stops kept giving us that advantage every time. We scored, get a stop; scored, get a stop. That's how we were able to build a big lead."

UTEP coach Tim Floyd, who played and coached for the Bulldogs in the 1970s, was ejected with 10:05 left to play following two quick technicals. Floyd got his money's worth, going back out on the court multiple times to confront the referee.

Floyd's ejection came at a weird time for the Miners, who had trimmed an 18-point deficit into a 12-point game. Raheem Appleby swished four free throws to put Tech up 55-39.

UTEP never recovered.

"We were more fired up about the free points than their coach," Appleby said. "I know it probably hit them hard and made the game more emotional for them. That probably helped us a little bit to go on our run."

The offensive struggles for the Miners were largely in part due to the disappearance of leading scorer Vince Hunter, who scored just four points.

Hunter picked up his third foul of the game on a frustration play after missing a layup with 5:08 to play in the opening half. He played only eight minutes in the half with his lone basket coming on a tip-in at the six-minute mark. He added a dunk in the second half as he finished 2-of-8 from the field.

Tech built an early eight-point lead off seven straight points from McCree, and a 3-pointer from Appleby in transition capped a 7-0 run to make it 10-2 at the under-16 media timeout.

McCree and Appleby accounted for Tech's first 18 points before Hamilton's corner 3-pointer made it 21-10 with 9:03 in the first half.

"UTEP is as good as anyone in the country at taking a guy out," White said. "To get that open look early was very helpful. The Erik McCree factor was even bigger for us."

UTEP started 4-of-17, but hung around by hitting 9-of-16 from the field to close out the half. With the Miners struggling from the 3-point line (0-of-8), they kept it close with 22 of their 29 points coming inside the paint, including eight from Cedrick Lang, who finished with a game-high 18 points.

"I was uneasy at halftime," White said. "We were up nine ... we shot the heck out of it, and we only forced three turnovers and we were up nine. We were far from being comfortable."

UTEP climbed back to within 23-18 but Tech answered with a quick six points. The Miners left too much cushion for Smith as he drained a 3-pointer, then Appleby took an errant inbounds back to the bucket for an old fashioned 3-point play to push the lead back to 11.

Smith swished another 3-pointer late with less than a minute left to give Tech a 38-29 halftime lead.

"Speedy is such a fiery kid, he plays so hard any time he's between the lines, whether it's pick up, practice or games," White said. "I didn't anticipate him playing any harder than he normally does but I did anticipate him being a little more aggressive offensively."

Connect with Sean Isabella on Twitter at ST_IsabellaTNS