Friday, March 13th, 11:59 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Lawlor Events Center (11,536) -- Reno, Nevada. Television: ESPN2. Home Record: LaTech 9-4, Nevada 12-6. Away Record: LaTech 5-11, Nevada 8-5. Neutral Record: LaTech 1-2, Nevada 0-0. Conference Record: LaTech 6-10, Nevada 11-5. Series Record: Nevada leads, 13-4.

GAME NOTES: The Nevada Wolf Pack try to make it back to the title game of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2006 as they confront the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the semifinals of the 26th annual event tonight at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. In front of a favorable hometown crowd, the second-seeded Wolf Pack took care of San Jose State in the quarterfinals on Thursday with a 78-69 decision. Nevada, which has a pair of conference tournament titles to its credit, could be heading towards a rematch of the 2006 championship contest against Utah State if the pieces fall into place. As for the sixth-seeded Bulldogs, a team that entered this year's event with a record of 2-7 over the years, they surprised third seed Idaho yesterday in a 70-62 final. LaTech has now won five of its last six games overall, the lone loss during that stretch coming against the Vandals in the regular season finale. The Pack leads the all-time series with LaTech by a count of 13-4, although the teams split a pair of meetings during the regular season, and Nevada lost in this building to the Bulldogs last month by a score of 78-75. The winner of this matchup will settle in against the survivor of the New Mexico State/Utah State outing and play for the tournament title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament tomorrow night.

After failing to get to the free-throw line a single time in the first half on Thursday, the Bulldogs paraded to the stripe 25 times after the break and sank 20 of those opportunities to grab the win from Idaho. Certainly, it also helped that LaTech finished the contest hitting not only 53.8 percent from the field but also 8-of-12 behind the three-point line to propel the squad to the next round. Kyle Gibson converted 4-of-6 beyond the arc in order to finish with 23 points, while Ole Ashaolu and Brandon Gibson tacked on 14 and 10 points, respectively. Kyle Gibson has made good on a sizzling 43.4 percent of his three-point attempts this season, resulting in his team-best 15.8 ppg, while Jamel Guyton (12.1 ppg) supplies plenty of added ammunition from the outside with his 65-of-185 effort out on the perimeter as well. Although his scoring output on Thursday was not quite up to par, Magnum Rolle is still the one the Bulldogs lean on in the paint for his 11.8 ppg and 7.2 rpg.

Of the six three-point baskets converted by the Wolf Pack last night, two of those came from Luke Babbitt who finished with a game-high 30 points in the win over San Jose State. Babbitt added six boards and a pair of assists in his travels. Malik Cooke chipped in with 16 points and six boards, as well as three steals and a pair of blocked shots, while Armon Johnson posted 14 points. Brandon Fields tried desperately to break out by playing 29 minutes off the bench, but missing all six of his three-point tries left him with just seven points and four assists. Babbitt is the top man for the Pack in both scoring and rebounding with averages of 16.8 points and 7.4 boards per game this season, showing great touch out on the perimeter at 43.1 percent. Unfortunately, as well as Babbitt may be shooting the ball from long distance, the team as a whole had made good on just 29.6 percent this season.

As is always the case with Nevada, getting Babbitt and Johnson in the mix early at both ends of the floor generally spells success for the team and that shouldn't change tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Nevada 73, Louisiana Tech 60