Louisiana Tech vs Louisiana-Lafayette

CAJUN BASKETBALL EDGES LA. TECH AT SBC TOURNAMENT ... March 4, 2001

MOBILE, Ala. – Kenneth Lawrence scored a career-high 16 points as Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns avenged an earlier regular-season loss with a 63-56 victory Sunday over Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals of the 2001 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Mitchell Center.

With the win, the Cajuns (16-12) advance to the semifinals where they face No. 1 East seed Western Kentucky in a 9 p.m. game Monday. That game will be carried live on College Sports Southeast and be shown locally on KLAF TV. Anthony Johnson added 16 points, including 15 in the second half, and practically iced the game by himself down the stretch, hitting 7-of-8 free throws in the final 30 seconds. Orlando Butler came off the bench to score 14 points with a pair of three pointers.

Despite shooting only 37 percent from the field in the first half and allowing Louisiana Tech to hit 48 percent of its shots, the Cajuns had to feel good with a 28-28 tie at the halftime break. Johnson and senior forward Lonnie Thomas – the Cajuns' top two scorers – had scored only one point, with Thomas playing just three minutes after being hampered by early foul trouble.

The second half didn't look promising as the Bulldogs scored the first seven points and raced out to a 35-28 lead. However, the Cajuns battled to a 37-37 tie and after Tech responded with three more points, Louisiana-Lafayette erupted on a 9-0 run over the next 2:52 for a 46-40 advantage.

Meanwhile, Louisiana Tech went into a scoring drought, going nearly eight minutes without hitting a field goal attempt. The Bulldogs pulled to within 51-49 when Antonio Meeking buried a jumper with 3:17 remaining.

With the shot clock winding down under five seconds, Lawrence hit a big three-pointer with 2:37 showing on the clock. After a Tech miss, Lawrence misfired from the field with only 90 seconds left but grabbed his own rebound. Lonnie Thomas then connected on key basket with 58 seconds left as the shot clock again wound down for a 56-51 advantage.

Johnson would take over the rest of the way from the charity stripe as the Cajuns sealed the win.

Meeking led Louisiana Tech with 21 points but scored only seven points in the second half. Gerrod Henderson, who hit a game-tying three-pointer to force overtime in Ruston on Feb. 8 added 12 points for the Bulldogs, but like Meeking was contained in the second half, scoring only four more points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field.

Louisiana Tech vs Louisiana-Lafayette OFFICIAL BASKETBALL BOX SCORE -- G A M E T O T A L S Louisiana Tech vs Louisiana-Lafayette 3/4/01 6:30 p.m. at Mitchell Center, Mobile, Ala. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Louisiana Tech 17-12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 21 COLE, Marco f 4-7 1-3 0-0 0 4 4 5 9 1 3 1 0 25 33 DAVIS, Marcelle f 1-6 0-1 3-4 0 2 2 4 5 2 4 0 1 38 34 MEEKING, Antonio c 9-12 0-0 3-6 3 3 6 1 21 1 2 0 2 38 3 HENDERSON, Gerrod g 5-12 0-4 2-3 2 5 7 0 12 1 5 0 2 38 4 LEWIS, Travis g 3-5 1-3 0-0 1 8 9 2 7 6 2 0 2 32 10 FOWLER, Jon 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 8 14 STAMPS, Nick 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 10 25 JOHNSON, Zach 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 5 0 0 1 0 1 11 TEAM ........................................ 0 1 1 TOTALS 23-46 2-11 8-15 8 23 31 17 56 12 18 1 9 200 TOT-FG 1stH: 12-25 48.0% 2ndH: 11-21 52.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 50.0% Deadbl 3pt-FG 1stH: 0-4 00.0% 2ndH: 2-7 28.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 18.2% Rebs FThrow 1stH: 4-9 44.4% 2ndH: 4-6 66.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 53.3% 2, 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Louisiana-Lafayette 16-12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 30 THOMAS, Lonnie f 2-5 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 5 5 0 0 0 1 18 52 DeGRAY, Reggie f 2-3 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 2 4 1 3 0 2 23 5 LAWRENCE, Kenneth g 6-16 4-8 0-0 2 1 3 2 16 3 3 1 1 31 22 HARMON, Blane g 1-7 1-6 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 0 0 28 34 JOHNSON, Anthony g 3-7 2-4 8-10 1 2 3 1 16 3 1 0 4 33 1 EVANS, Jarret 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 6 23 BUTLER, Orlando 5-11 2-7 2-2 1 1 2 1 14 2 1 0 1 23 32 ROBINS, Darryl 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 9 42 SMITH, Brett 0-0 0-0 1-4 3 6 9 3 1 4 2 0 0 29 TEAM ........................................ 0 1 1 TOTALS 21-52 9-27 12-18 9 19 28 15 63 14 12 1 10 200 TOT-FG 1stH: 10-27 37.0% 2ndH: 11-25 44.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 40.4% Deadbl 3pt-FG 1stH: 4-15 26.7% 2ndH: 5-12 41.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 33.3% Rebs FThrow 1stH: 4-8 50.0% 2ndH: 8-10 80.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 66.7% 4, 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICIALS: Tom O'Neill, Mike Thibodeaux, Eddie Jackson TECHNICAL FOULS: Louisiana Tech - none Louisiana-Lafayette - none ATTENDANCE: SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL Louisiana Tech 28 28 56 Louisiana-Lafayette 28 35 63 2001 Sun Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinals; Louisiana-Lafayette advances to Monday's 9 p.m. semifinal against No. 1 East Western Kentucky

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Footer