RUSTON, La. -- Louisiana Tech built an early margin with a hot start, pushing the Bulldogs to a 82-66 win over UTSA men's basketball, on Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.
UTSA (5-8, 1-5 Conference USA) missed 14 of its first 15 shots to open the game and Louisiana Tech scored 17 of the first 20 points, building an early lead.
UTSA rallied to outscore LA Tech 31-22 over the remainder of the first half, cutting the lead to 39-34 at the break. The Bulldogs used a 7-0 run to build a double-digit lead in the opening seconds of the second half, holding UTSA at arm's length as the Roadrunners attempted a comeback.
Louisiana Tech (11-4, 4-2 C-USA) improved to 9-1 at home in 2020-21 and 24-2 at home over the last two seasons.
The Roadrunners were led by a 22-point outing from senior guard Keaton Wallace, who added six boards and two assists. It marked Wallace's second 20+ point scoring performance of the year and the 38th of his career.
UTSA also got 14 points from Jhivvan Jackson and nine points from freshman Jordan Ivy-Curry. Sophomore center Jacob Germany chipped in seven points and five rebounds.
LA Tech was paced by a double-double from Kenneth Lofton Jr., who had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Amorie Archibald led the Bulldogs with 22 points.
UTSA shot 34 percent in the game, while Louisiana Tech finished with a 49 percent clip from the field, bombing in 14 of 26 3-pointers, good for 54 percent.
UTSA will return to action on Friday, hosting Southern Miss in the first of two games at the Convocation Center, starting at 6 p.m.
Louisiana opened the game with the first seven points before Cedrick Alley Jr. sank a wing 3-pointer. The Bulldogs scored 17 of the first 20 points to build an early, insurmountable lead.
UTSA went on a 6-0 run, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Erik Czumbel to cut the lead to 20-13 with 8:23 left before Cobie Williams drilled a 3-pointer, the sixth for LA Tech in it's first 10 attempts.
The Roadrunners rallied to cut the lead to six at 35-29 with just under two minutes left. Jackson's wing 3-pointer cut the lead to 36-32 with 90 seconds remaining in the first half. Germany's slam on an alley-oop find from Eric Parrish, cut the lead to 39-34 at the break. LA Tech shot 46.4 percent in the first half, including a 10 of 18 stretch from 3-point range. UTSA was held to 35.1 percent, including 8 of 17 from distance.
The Bulldogs wasted little time in regaining a double-digit lead, ripping off a 7-0 run after the first UTSA bucket of the half. Jordan Ivy-Curry's and-1 cut the lead to 48-42 with 14:12 left in regulation.
Ivy-Curry cut the lead to seven after a corner 3-pointer just before the under-12 minute media timeout.
Out of the under eight-minute media timeout, UTSA drew up a play for Jackson, who sank the midrange jumper to cut the lead to 61-55. That was as close as UTSA could get as a 7-0 run forced a timeout from Coach Steve Henson after the lead grew to 13 with 5:19 left.
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