RUSTON, L.A. - The University of Idaho men's basketball team couldn't get anything going Monday night as the Vandals fell to Louisiana Tech, 74-49 at the Thomas Assembly Center.  Idaho falls to 4-23 on the season, 1-14 in the WAC and has now dropped seven straight.

"This was our fifth game in 10 days, third on the road and in this league I don't know who could have played this stretch and won a lot of games," Idaho head coach Leonard Perry said. "We are better than this.  We aren't the most physical and talented team but I was hoping we had a little fire left and that was asking too much of this team."

Idaho shot 33 percent for the game while allowing Louisiana Tech to shoot 48 percent and the Vandals were out-rebounded 43 to 30.  The Bulldogs recorded 12 offensive rebounds on the night which led to 18 second chance points.  Louisiana Tech recorded 36 points in the paint compared to six for Idaho.

"Give Louisiana Tech credit, they are a good basketball team and are very physical," Perry said. "At the end of this road trip that's not what we needed to see."

The Vandals trailed by two at 7-5 with 17:12 to go in the first half when Louisiana Tech went on a 29-7 run over the next 14 minutes to take its largest lead of the half at 36-12.  Idaho was finally able to generate a 7-2 run to close out the half and went into the locker room down by 19 points at 38-19.  

"We couldn't score in the first half and it really hurt us," Perry said.

Idaho finally find its offensive rhythm midway through the second half and a 12-3 run cut the Bulldog lead to 13 at 51-38 with 7:44 left to play.  Louisiana Tech's Paul Millsap took over from there and recorded six straight points for the Bulldogs to push the lead back to 19, and a 17-4 run expanded the lead to 26.  The Bulldogs kept the pressure on and walked away with the 74-49 win.

Idaho's leading scorer Tanoris Shepard recorded a season low three points and fouled out with seven minutes left in the game. 

"He just didn't have it, he's worn out," Perry said of Shepard. "His mental state was fine, he was just asking his body to do things it couldn't do.  He's a true warrior."

Keoni Watson picked up the slack for the Vandals with a team high 17 points while Matt Forge added seven.  David Dubois led Idaho with seven rebounds.  The Bulldogs were led by Millsap with 20 points and 18 rebounds. 

"Keoni is playing really well for us and he played a good game tonight," Perry said.

Idaho (4-23, 1-14) closes out the regular season at Boise State on Sat., March 4 at 1 p.m. PT.