The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is hoping a putback will put it back in the right direction.

Petras Balocka scored on a putback as the final horn sounded, ending weeks of frustration with a 54-53 road victory over Louisiana Tech yesterday at Ruston, La.

A crowd of 1,671 at the Thomas Assembly Center left in silence when the referees ruled that the basket was good after reviewing video of the final play.

"What can I say? I got lucky," Balocka said. "The ball bounced my way and I knew time was running out. There wasn't time to think about it, really. Just tip it."

The Rainbow Warriors ended a five-game losing streak to improve to 10-10 overall and 2-6 in the Western Athletic Conference. Both of Hawai'i's WAC victories came against LaTech, and both were by one point.

The Bulldogs, who dropped to 8-13 and 2-6, are now tied with Hawai'i for seventh place in the nine-team WAC.

"From my vantage point, it looked good," said Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash, whose team won its first game on the road since it beat Idaho on Jan. 26 last year. "But you never know what they'll see when they look at the replay, so I'm just glad we got the win."

Roderick Flemings led Hawai'i with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Bill Amis added 14 points and six rebounds, and Balocka contributed 10 points and five rebounds.

"We were all sick and tired of losing," Balocka said. "Hopefully, this is a new beginning for us."

Jamel Guyton hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining to give the Bulldogs a momentary 53-52 lead.

After calling a timeout, Nash designed a final play near the basket for Flemings. But he was covered, and the ball instead went to Amis, who took an off-balance turnaround jumper. It bounced off the rim to Balocka, who converted on the rebound.

"It wasn't the way we drew it up, but we always tell the guys 'crash the boards on every shot,' and Petras certainly did that," Nash said.

The victory came after an intense week of practice for the 'Bows.

After a 16-point loss at home to Utah State last Saturday, Nash closed practices to the media and public. He admitted "yelling and screaming" more than normal during those sessions.

"I was pleased with the way they approached this game and stayed with the game plan," Nash said. "We emphasized all week that this is a team, and everybody has to be on the same page for this to work. For the most part, we stayed with the system and game plan."

Even after LaTech raced to a 13-2 lead to start the game, Nash said the 'Bows never panicked.

"They came out and hit their first four shots, three of them were 3s, but I didn't think that would last forever," Nash said. "I said let's keep working and we'll get back in this thing."

The 'Bows trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, but cut the LaTech lead to 35-30 at intermission.

Hawai'i opened the second half with an 11-1 run to take a 41-36 lead. The 'Bows increased their lead to 49-42 with 5:52 remaining, but the Bulldogs fought back to make it exciting at the end.

Hawai'i went just 4 of 7 on free throws, but shot 46.9 percent from the field — its best percentage since the last victory over LaTech on Jan. 5.

Nash said during the week that not every player on the team was "buying in" during the intense practices, and so there could be changes to the rotation.

Sure enough, only seven 'Bows saw action yesterday. Amis and Kareem Nitoto each played the full 40 minutes, and Flemings played 39.

Guyton led the Bulldogs with 14 points, including four 3-pointers.

Hawai'i will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., today, and play another WAC road game at New Mexico State tomorrow.

OTHER WAC GAMES

UTAH STATE 72, NEVADA 61

Tai Wesley scored 22 points as the Aggies (20-1, 8-0) rallied from a 34-30 halftime deficit to beat the Wolf Pack (12-8, 5-2) at Logan, Utah.

IDAHO 63, BOISE STATE 59

Mac Hopson had 20 points and eight assists as the host Vandals (10-10, 4-3) beat the in-state rival Broncos (14-6, 5-3) at Moscow, Idaho. Mark Sanchez led Boise State with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

NEW MEXICO STATE 89, SAN JOSE STATE 81

Jahmar Young hit four 3-pointers and scored 32 points, and Jonathan Gibson hit two free throws to break a 77-77 tie and the Aggies (10-11, 4-4) never trailed again in turning back the Spartans (9-10, 3-5) at Las Cruces, N.M.