GAME NOTES: Still the only team in the Western Athletic Conference without a league victory, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs return from the South Pacific and make a stop at Fresno State tonight. On Saturday, LaTech was easily handled by Hawaii in a 71-57 decision at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. The loss was the seventh in a row for the squad and the ninth in 10 attempts. As for the other Bulldogs who are hosting tonight's event, they've been out of action since Thursday night when they tumbled against Nevada in Reno, 79-67. The setback was the second in a row and the fourth in five games for a Fresno State team that has not won back-to-back games since just before Christmas against the likes of Pacific and Presbyterian College. Fresno State won the first meeting between these two clubs last month with a 61-44 triumph in Ruston, which means the teams are knotted at 9-9 in the all-time series.

LaTech played well in the first half against the Warriors on Saturday night on the road, shooting 57.9 percent from the field, but then the team missed all four chances behind the three-point line in the second half and was just 1-of-2 at the free-throw line, en route to the 14-point loss. Kyle Gibson stepped up with 16 points for the Bulldogs, followed by Adrian Rogers and JC Clark with 11 points apiece. Gibson is listed eighth among the top scorers in the WAC with his 15.5 ppg and is also first on his own squad on the glass with just over five and a half rebounds per outing. Unfortunately for Gibson and the rest of the Bulldogs, there's no one else scoring in double figures at the moment to help give the squad a fighting chance. Clark accounts for 8.7 ppg and is tied for second with his 29 assists, but shooting a mere 37.3 percent from the field simply won't get the job done.

Missing all seven chances behind the three-point line in the first half put the Bulldogs at a disadvantage against Nevada last week and a double-digit hole at the break from which they could not extricate themselves. Kevin Bell still finished with 22 points, but shot just 9-of-23 from the field in the process, while Eddie Miller posted 17 points as he made just 1-of-6 chances behind the three-point line on the night. Brandon Webster raised a few eyebrows coming off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds in just 19 minutes. Except for four games this season, the leading scorer every time out for the Bulldogs has been either Bell (17.9 ppg) or Miller (14.7 ppg). The latter has certainly benefited from Bell's passing ability (128 assists) by taking 187 of his 255 field goal attempts from three-point range. Despite shooting only 41.9 percent from the field and being beaten on the glass by five rebounds per game, the Bulldogs are still outscoring opponents by fractions of a point through 22 games.

They may be making their way back home to Ruston now, but stopping in the Golden State is going to do nothing more than add another tally in the loss column for LaTech tonight.