LA Tech defeats North Texas on last-second shot by Bracey

DENTON, Texas – Louisiana Tech was not going to let history repeat itself.

After falling in the final second to North Texas a month ago, the Bulldogs countered with a game-winning shot in the final second by DaQuan Bracey in what ended up being a 73-71 thriller on Saturday afternoon inside the Super Pit.

There ended up being 11 ties and 11 lead changes in the opening Bonus Play matchup between LA Tech (20-7, 11-4 C-USA) and UNT (18-10, 12-3 C-USA) in the top pod.

The 10th lead change came when the Mean Green’s Javion Hamlet converted a three-point play to put the home team up 71-70 with 24 seconds remaining.

Bracey, who had made eight straight points, went one-on-one with his defender just like he did against Old Dominion. This time, the senior drove hard right and kissed a running right-handed floater perfectly off the glass for the bucket and the foul with 1.4 left on the clock.

After missing the free throw, the Mean Green called a timeout but threw the ball out of bounds, giving possession back to the ‘Dogs who tacked on a free throw from Bracey and then missed the next one on purpose to seal the team’s 20th win of the season.

“North Texas is a really good team,” said head coach Eric Konkol. “They play very hard and very fast and I thought we did too. It was a gritty, hard-fought game on both ends that came down to the last possession.”

LA Tech got off to a solid start, going up 16-12 after Kalob Ledoux converted on a fastbreak layup with 12:02 remaining in the first half. After the media timeout though, North Texas went on a 10-0 run and eventually grabbed the upper-hand with a 36-25 edge with 2:55 left until halftime.

The final three minutes were crucial for the ‘Dogs who ended things on a 7-0 run, including a layup by Mubarak Muhammed that went in right before the buzzer sounded to only be down four at half.

“We did not play well in the first half,” said Konkol. “We were a step off in some of our coverages. There was a segment where we had to absorb some of their punches, but getting the buckets late were really important going into halftime.”

LA Tech would use another 7-0 run to take their first lead in almost 20 minutes of action at 52-49 with 11:08 to go. Three ties and nine minutes later, Hamlet broke another tie with a made layup at the rim to give the Mean Green a 64-62 lead.

Then Bracey took over. LA Tech’s best three-point shooter drilled back-to-back triples from the top of the arc, then made a step-back jumper from 12 feet, then capped off his brilliant second half with the game-winner.

“I thought our team was so resilient,” added Konkol. “(Bracey) found his spots and his teammates found him. He had the hot hand and we kept going to him. That is what you want from your seniors.”

He tied his season-high with 26 points (20 coming in the second stanza on 8-of-10 shooting). Muhammed registered 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds and Derric Jean tacked on 11 points.

The Bulldogs shot exactly 50 percent from the field (27-54) and from the three-point line (10-20). Meanwhile, the Mean Green shot just 18 percent from downtown (4-22). They also had three players in double-figures, led by Hamlet who had 25 points.

Next up for LA Tech is a return trip to Bowling Green, Kentucky to battle WKU on Thursday, Feb. 27. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.