The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs lost their Feb. 2 matchup to the Florida International University Panthers on the road in Miami.
The Panthers won 75-69 after a late run against the Bulldogs Saturday night at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
LA Tech (15-9, 5-6 C-USA) endured injury to their bench against FIU (14-9, 5-5 C-USA) as promising freshman Stacey Thomas was out due to an injury suffered in the previous outing.
After holding a two-point advantage with four minutes remaining, the Bulldogs made only one of their last 10 shot attempts to end the game. There were also two crucial turnovers late in the game despite the Bulldogs only turning the ball over just 10 times prior against the No. 1 team in the country in forcing turnovers.
“I thought there were opportunities for us on both sides of the floor,” head coach Eric Konkol said. “We have got to find a way to improve on it with real toughness moments of a key stop here or a key box out. You can’t let the moment become bigger. It is just about locking into the possession. We have to improve on that.”
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field throughout the first half. DaQuan Bracey helped by adding 13 points to give the Bulldogs a 40-35 lead entering halftime.
“I thought our guys were ready,” Konkol said. “We were really in attack mode on both sides of the ball. We were active. We did not have that late. The game tempo took on a different life. We got some good looks. I thought we attacked the glass hard, but we came up short.”
FIU came out in a zone to start the second stanza and sat it in while the Bulldogs struggled to score against it. LA Tech made just seven points through the first eight minutes of the period, which allowed the Panthers to take a 50-47 lead with 11:52 to go.
Amorie Archibald added five straight points to help the ‘Dogs gain a 66-64 lead heading into the final media timeout despite FIU’s Trejon Jacob and Willy Nunez, Jr. scoring 10 combined three pointers.
FIU ended the game on an 11-3 run,
Anthony Duruji registered his second double-double with a team-high 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Bracey finished the contest with 15 points. Archibald ended the matchup with 11 points and Mubarak Muhammed grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds off the bench.
The team finished 28-of-70 from the field (40 percent) and 8-of-27 from 3-point-range (30 percent).
FIU shot 41 percent from the field (29-70) and 39 percent from three-point-range (12-31).
LA Tech will travel to Southern Miss Saturday, Feb. 9. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. and will be live on ESPN+.