RUSTON, La. — One streak had to be broken. Heading into the matchup, Hawai'i held a four-game losing streak while Louisiana Tech had dropped five straight.

The ball bounced the Bulldogs' way as UH fell, 69-62, at the Thomas Assembly Center last night.

"For some reason, we haven't been able to take care of the ball," said Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash. "Louisiana Tech really wanted to get the win and they worked really hard. They forced us into 20 turnovers and out-rebounded us."

The Rainbow Warriors (11-17, 7-8 WAC) could not keep the Bulldogs (5-23, 2-13 WAC) off the boards as Louisiana Tech held a 35-28 rebounding advantage and scored 18 second-chance points.

The Bulldogs also took advantage of the charity stripe as they hit 30 of 35 free-throw attempts to help seal their second conference win of the season.

"They shot 35 free throws and when you give a team that shoots 76 percent from the free-throw line, that's a lot of points," Nash said. "When you give a team that many shots, you're not going to win many games."

Hawai'i led through most of the first half, building as large as a seven-point lead before Louisiana Tech closed to 25-24 at halftime.

The teams battled back and forth in the second half until senior guard Matt Gibson, who led the Warriors with 22 points, picked up his fourth foul with 10:59 to play.

With Gibson in foul trouble on the bench, the Bulldogs went on a 9-1 run to build a 46-41 lead.

Louisiana Tech managed to maintain the lead and seemed to have the upper hand leading 60-55 with 1:30 left when the Warriors scored five unanswered points to tie it 60-60 with 52 seconds remaining.

Tech sophomore guard Kyle Gibson scored on a layup while being fouled to give the Bulldogs a traditional three-point play. Tech then forced a turnover, but Gibson scored again. However, the Bulldogs took control the rest of the way.

"It was an ugly game," Gibson said. "They outworked us, I guess. They were scrapping and hustling. That was their goal to make it an ugly game, stay close to the end and sneak one out and they got it."

Hawai'i returns to action tomorrow night when it travels to New Mexico State. Tipoff is 4 p.m. Hawai'i time.

"We're going back to our routine to get ready for these guys," Nash said. "We had some success against them in our place but it's going to be senior night at New Mexico State and we've got to go in there and do the things that have helped us to be successful."

Bill Amis added 13 points, Riley Luettgerodt scored 10 and Bobby Nash added a team-high eight rebounds for Hawai'i.

Freshman guard Dwayne Lathan topped the Bulldogs with 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Kyle Gibson added 20 points.

NOTES

Senior Bobby Nash became the 14th player in school history, and the second this year, to reach 1,000 career points when he drained a three-pointer less than two minutes in for UH's first points of the game. Nash joined fellow senior Gibson, who got the feat last month against Nevada.