After being down as many as 19 points in the early stages of the second half, the UMass men’s basketball team cut the Louisiana Tech lead to just five with 2 minutes, 12 seconds following an Akil Watson layup in transition – capping off a 12-2 spurt to get back in the game.

The Minutemen wouldn’t score again the rest of the way until a last second tip-in from Daniel Hankins-Sanford however, and by then the game was well out of reach. UMass fell 76-66 to Louisiana Tech in the Icons of the Game event at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. on Wednesday night.

Another slow start plagued the Minutemen for the second contest in a row. UMass (1-2) shot just 25 percent in the opening 20 minutes and gave up seven Bulldogs 3-pointers, most of them uncontested. Louisiana Tech took the lead on a Kaden Cooper dunk 15 seconds into the game and held that lead the entire game.

The Bulldogs (3-0) went on to score 45 first-half points, riding the hot hand of Amaree Abram – who scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting including a trio of 3s. UMass sophomore guard Jaylen Curry did what he could to keep the Minutemen in it, continuing his strong start to the season with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists in the first half before finishing with 14-4-6.

Although UMass outscored Louisiana Tech 33-31 in the second half, it couldn’t dig itself out of the early hole, and the Bulldogs responded to the Minutemen’s late 10-point swing with a quick 7-0 burst to put the game away. Louisiana Tech had five different players in double figures, as Abram (19), Sean Newman Jr. (14), Cooper (11), Daniel Batcho (10) and Al Green (10) all contributed in key moments in the Bulldogs’ win.

Outside of Curry’s 14 points, the Minutemen didn’t have another player in double digits. Rahsool Diggins (2-for-12) struggled to shoot the ball en route to a 6-point effort. Akil Watson shot 80 percent (4-for-5) from the floor as UMass’ second leading scorer with nine points while Daniel Rivera (game-high nine rebounds) and Daniel Hankins-Sanford each put up eight. Malek Abdelgowad and Nate Guerengomba added seven points apiece and Shahid Muhammad scored six points and blocked three shots.

Free throw shooting was a huge issue for UMass, especially in the second half as the Minutemen shot just 37.5 percent (3-for-8) and missed several front-ends of 1-and-1 opportunities. The Minutemen could’ve made the game even closer down the stretch had they converted from the free throw line.

UMass shot 26-for-67 (39 percent) including 3-for-13 (23 percent) from beyond the arc. It turned the ball over 11 times compared to Louisiana Tech’s 14 and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to the Bulldogs’ nine. Points in the paint (44-30) and bench points (23-19) were also statistical categories won by the Minutemen, and they even didn’t allow a single fastbreak point. But the poor shooting from all three levels as well as the charity stripe was too much to overcome.

Wednesday marked UMass’ second loss in a row after starting the season with a 103-74 win over New Hampshire. The Minutemen return home on Saturday for a 7 p.m. bout with Hofstra at Mullins Center in Amherst.