University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Down Arkansas Tech In Exhibition Finale
11/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002
Junior guard Brad Boyd, freshman center Chris Cameron and senior forward Anthony Johnson paced the Cajuns offense with each scoring over 20 points. Boyd and Johnson both contributed off the bench.
Boyd led the Cajuns in scoring for the second straight game as he put up 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, which included 6-of-11 from beyond the arc in 27 minutes. He finished exhibition play 19-of-34 from the floor (55.9 percent), 14-of-25 from beyond the arc (56.0 percent) and averaged 27.5 points per game.
Cameron posted a double-double, netting 21 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, six of them the offensive variety. Cameron was 9-of-13 from the field after a 3-for-10 performance in the exhibition opener on Wednesday. He nailed his first three-pointer as a Ragin' Cajun at 10:54 of the second half to give Louisiana-Lafayette a 72-54 advantage.
Johnson poured in 22 points in 25 minutes, connecting on 8-of-11 from the field. He and Boyd combined to give the Cajuns 46 points off the bench. The UL Lafayette bench outscored ATU's 60-21 for the game.
Daniel Watson's 18 points and Steve Willis ' 17 led the Wonder Boys. ATU, a Division II school, was playing its second exhibition of the season and first since Nov. 6.
The Cajuns won the rebound margin 35-34, with the difference being a lone offensive rebound. UL Lafayette had nine steals to only one for the Wonder Boys and forced 19 ATU turnovers. Kenneth Lawrence led the Cajuns with five assists.
Both offenses got off to a slow start. Watson put the Wonder Boys on the board at 18:59, the first basket of the game. Chris Cameron would score UL Lafayette's first six points as the Cajuns led 6-2 at 15:51 of the first half.
The lead would change hands a few times over the next 10 minutes. The largest lead the Cajuns forged was four points at 14-10 and 20-16. There were five lead changes during that frame with the final one giving ATU its last lead of the game at 25-24 with 6:36 remaining in the first half.
Louisiana-Lafayette would use an 11-0 run from there to break open a close game. A Johnson layup at 6:18 got the Cajuns going and gave them the lead for good at 26-25. Back-to-back three pointers from Johnson and then Boyd gave the Cajuns their largest lead at that point of the game, 32-25 with 5:22 to play in the first half.
Following a Johnson layup on a foul by ATU's Sylvester Crockham and the free throw conversion gave the Cajuns their 11th unanswered point, the Wonder Boys ended the run with a jumper from Watson at 4:45.
Louisiana-Lafayette took a 48-36 advantage into the locker room.
UL Lafayette opened the second half with a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 55-36 with 18:25 remaining in the game. The Wonder Boys would climb back to 10 points with a 10-1 run over the next three minutes, the closest that they would get the rest of the way.
The Cajuns responded to ATU's run with a 8-0 run of their own to push the lead to 64-46 with 13:45 remaining.
The advantage remained the same the rest of the way with UL Lafayette's lead never dipping below 15.
UL Lafayette finished exhibition play 2-0 and will begin the 2002-03 regular season Saturday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. against No. 12 Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
