Tech earns share of 3rd straight title in win over UTSA

RUSTON – Don't awake the sleeping giant.

With a third straight conference title staring Louisiana Tech dead in the eye, the Bulldogs responded on one of the biggest stages of the regular season.

The Bulldogs fought off a pesky Texas-San Antonio squad with 10 unanswered points in the final three minutes to secure a 76-66 win, which guarantees they can do no worse than a share of first place with UAB a game behind in the standings.

Tech, which won a share of the Western Athletic Conference title in 2013 and tied with three other teams to win the Conference USA title in 2014, extended its home win streak to 28 games. The Bulldogs have a chance to win the outright C-USA title next Thursday against Southern Miss.

"We dug deep," Tech forward Erik McCree said. "It felt like it was kind of slipping away from us like we got it right here for the conference championship. We got it together and pulled it out."

Tech (23-7, 14-3) ended the final 3:40 with a 13-3 run after UTSA cut the lead to 66-63.

All five starters for Tech finished in double-figures. Alex Hamilton scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, and Michale Kyser dominated the paint with 10 points, nine blocks and eight rebounds.

"I thought that was as well as Mike's ever played. I thought Mike was tremendous," Tech coach Michael White said. "This was as much of a factor as he's had in a win than he's ever had for us. That may change subtly after watching the film, but I thought he was all over the floor."

Tech woke up after UTSA (13-14, 7-9) took a 54-53 lead with 8:54 to play, the Roadrunners' first lead since 14-13 at the 11:16 mark of the first half.

White called the win "ugly" and said his players were too "geeked up" with a third straight conference title at stake.

Smith, playing in his second-to-last home game as a senior, helped calm White's nerves as he knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to put Tech up 59-56. The long-range shots were Smith's first of the night after he scored 17 points in Thursday's win over UTEP.

"During one of those last few timeouts, we said hey, it's not our night offensively, their zone has been really effective. We'll score another few baskets, but if we just string together some stops here, we can win a championship," White said he told his team. "Let's forget about everything else, the first 30-plus minutes … and let's try to do what we can to string together stops."

With 5:52 to play and Tech clinging to a slim lead, Kyser changed the same when he swatted a shot on defense, ran the length of the court and threw down a two-handed slam off a pass from Hamilton to give Tech a 64-58 lead. Kyser did it again seconds later, this time slamming it home off an alley-oop from Smith as a crowd of 5,328 fans erupted.

"We got it together," Smith said. "We looked at everybody. Mike said let's go, Raheem (Appleby) said let's go and we took charge. We got defensive stops and when we're on the fast break, we're one of the top teams in fast breaks, especially when it's me and Mike."

Hamilton sealed the game with a 15-foot jumper from the left elbow to put Tech up seven with 90 seconds left.

Tech tacked on some insurance when UTSA coach Brooks Thompson received a technical foul for arguing a call with less than 30 seconds left. Thompson's technical came just two days after UTEP coach Tim Floyd was ejected and suspended one game by C-USA for his on-court tirade.

Tech led by as many as 12 points early in the second half before UTSA started an 11-4 run to make things interesting at the 10-minute mark.

UTSA's efficiency was the difference. The Roadrunners hit seven of their first 11 shots out of the locker room.

"I thought their changing of zone and zone effectiveness in each of their two zones were really good," White said. "I thought they had incredibly composure in the second half."

The inside play of Jeromie Hill helped, too. The 6-foot-8 forward scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Keon Lewis led the Roadrunners with 26 points on 9-of-24 shooting.

Kyser set the tone early with a block on the opening possession and swatted six shots to give the Bulldogs a 34-25 halftime lead.

"I tried to stay out of foul trouble and do as much as I can to give my team the lead so we could get out on fast breaks and get dunks," Kyser said.

UTSA shot 43 percent for the game but got off to a rough start as it missed 11-of-13 field goals and suffered through a 6:38 field goal drought as Tech's lead ballooned to 12 points.