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CAJUNS FALL TO TENNESSEE AT NCAA TOURNAMENT ... March 16, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., NCAA Tournament South Regional First Round – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun basketball team held a lead late in the second half but in the end Tennessee made the big plays and took advantage of their trips to the free throw line on the way to a 63-58 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament South Regional at the BJCC Arena.

The Cajuns, making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1994, were outscored by the Volunteers 11-4 during the final 5:20 on the way to the loss. Nevertheless, Louisiana-Lafayette ends the season with a 25-9 mark and ties a school record for the most wins in a year.

Lonnie Thomas led the way for Louisiana-Lafayette with a game-high 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Orlando Butler came off the bench to score 12 points, including two 3-pointers.

Tennessee was led by three players in double digits, with Harris' 15 points leading the way. C.J. Black scored 14 points, with a 10-for-10 performance from the free throw line, while Vincent Yarbrough scored 11 points with three treys.

Thomas gave the Cajuns a 54-52 lead with only 5:20 remaining but Tennessee took off on its run to take the victory. Ron Slay hit two free throws with five minutes left to tie the score at 54-all and scored the go-ahead basket one minute later. From there, the Volunteers hit five free throws in the final two-and-a-half minutes to ice the win.

Tennessee took advantage of their trips to the free throw line while the Cajuns struggled to make a visit there throughout the game. The Volunteers used 24 Louisiana-Lafayette fouls to hit 23-of-29 shots from the charity stripe, while the Cajuns had only 14 Tennessee fouls to hit on 5-of-8 shooting from the free throw line.

Still, the Cajuns had their chances toward the end of the game. With 15 seconds remaining and Tennessee leading 60-58, junior center Brett Smith appeared to cleanly strip the ball from Volunteer point guard Tony Harris and began heading up the court before referees whistled that Smith had held Harris.

Harris missed the first free throw by Slay snared the offensive rebound and was intentionally fouled by Reggie DeGray. After Slay missed both free throws and Tennessee took the ball out, Harris was fouled and buried both free throws for a four-point lead with only 10 seconds remaining. Jon Higgins added another free throw with one second left for the final margin of victory.

That wasn't the case early in the contest as Louisiana-Lafayette controlled the first half and eventually led by as many as 12 point at 29-17 on Jarret Evans' three-pointer at the 4:35 mark. Unfortunately, that would be the last points the Cajuns would score for the rest of the half.

Meanwhile, Tennessee took off on a 9-0 run over the remainder of the first half to turn a 12-point deficit into a three-point margin as the teams headed off the court for the halftime break.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

The Official Site for USL Ragin' Cajun Athletics USL Sports, USL Athletics, University of Southwestern Louisian

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