University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
South Alabama
Jaguars Second-Half Rally Snaps Cajuns Four-Game Win Streak
1/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003
MOBILE, Ala. – South Alabama outscored Louisiana-Lafayette 54-41 in the second half and the Jaguars placed all five starters in double figures to post a 93-89 win over the Ragin' Cajuns here Thursday night at the Mitchell Center in Sun Belt Conference men's basketball action in front of an announced crowd of 2,681.
USA guard Demetrice Williams sank seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch and the Jaguars held off a late comeback attempt from Louisiana-Lafayette. The Jaguars final five points were all scored by Williams, from the free throw line, as USA had an answer for each time the Cajuns sank a shot in the final seconds of the contest.
The Jaguars opened the second half with a 21-8 run which propelled them into a 60-56 lead at the second media timeout at 11:36. The Jaguars tied the game at 55-55 on a Henry Williams tip-in and took the lead for good at 12:32 on a wide-open dunk by Malerick Bedden to take a 57-55 lead.
USA would open up six-point advantages at 69-63 and 76-70 only to see the Cajuns claw back to within one point. The Cajuns cut into the Jaguar lead 69-68 with a Brad Boyd three and Kenneth Lawrence layin. However a three-pointer from USA's Chris Young broke the Cajuns momentum and the Jags pulled out to another six-point lead.
Louisiana-Lafayette would trim the lead to one-point once more at 81-80 on a Michael Southall free throw, but another Young three-pointer, this one banked off the backboard, broke the Cajuns momentum and gave USA an 84-80 lead with 1:06 left to play.
Then on the ensuing possession, the Jaguars forced the Cajuns into a turnover and converted one-of-two free throws to build a five-point advantage.
Free throws by the Jags down the stretch sealed the upset win and clouded the Sun Belt West Division race.
The Ragin' Cajuns (9-5, 1-1 Sun Belt) had their four-game overall winning streak snapped with the loss and a five-game SBC regular-season win streak ended. The Cajuns also had their three-game road win streak snapped dropping a road game for the first time since a 75-56 loss to Colorado at the 2002 Pepsi Classic in Charlotte, N.C. on Dec. 27, 2002.
South Alabama (7-6, 1-1 Sun Belt) ended a two-game losing streak and won its first Sun Belt Conference regular season game since last season's 61-58 win over Western Kentucky at the Mitchell Center on Dec. 30, 2001, snapping a 14-game SBC regular-season losing streak.
The loss also snapped the Cajuns two-game win streak at the Mitchell Center. USA snapped a two-game losing streak in the series and cut the Cajuns lead to 16-15. The two teams will rematch on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003 at 7:05 p.m. in the Cajundome.
Anthony Johnson and Michael Southall who each scored 21 points off the bench led UL Lafayette in scoring. Johnson moved over 1,000 points in his three-year caeer with a three-point bucket with 5:01 remaining in the first half. Johnson becomes the 34th player in school history to score over 1,000 in a career. Southall's 21 points were a season-high.
It was Johnson's first action since Dec. 28 against Loyola-Chicago when he sprained his right ankle. He had sat out the previous three contests.
Kenneth Lawrence and Laurie Bridges each scored 12 points as the two Cajuns starters with double digit scoring. Bridges, Johnson and Southall were all the Cajuns top rebounders with eight apiece.
Louisiana-Lafayette shot 53.8 percent from the floor (35-of-65) while USA made 51.6 percent (33-of-64), marking the second time this season the Cajuns have lost while outshooting the opposition. USA forced the Cajuns into 15 turnovers while the Jaguars had only six turnovers.
Free throw shooting came back to haunt the Cajuns. UL Lafayette made only 12-of-20 freebies (60 percent), missing all eight in the second half. USA made 18-of-25 charities (72 percent).
The Jaguars had all five starters in double figures in the scoring column led by a trio with 20 points. Malerick Bedden, Demetrice Williams and Chris Young each had 20 while Henry Williams scored 16 and Ugo Ezekwe tallied 12.
The game began with a frantic pace, as Laurie Bridges' layup off the opening tip at 19:56 setting the tone for the game's first half. A total of eight points were scored by the first minute's passage as both the Cajuns and Jaguars were knotted up at 4-4.
After a back-and-forth tempo through the first seven minutes with five ties and five lead changes, the Jaguars forged their largest lead of the half 23-18 using a 6-0 run after Louisiana-Lafayette had taken an 18-17 lead with 11:36 on a Michael Southall layup.
UL Lafayette responded with a 12-0 run following a Demetrice Williams layup at 10:23 to jump out to a 30-23 advantage with 8:24 remaining in the opening frame. The Cajuns took their largest lead of the half when Cedric Williams found Chris Cameron open on the right wing who stepped back behind the three-point stripe and nailed a 20-footer giving Louisiana-Lafayette a 48-39 lead, which turned out to be the halftime margin.
The Cajuns shot 60 percent in the opening frame (21-of-35) from the field and were led by a balanced attack which featured three players with eight points apiece – Bridges, Johnson and Southall.
USA shot 16-of-34 from the field and was led by Chris Young's 14 points. The Jaguars forced the Cajuns into eight turnovers while committing only three.
Louisiana-Lafayette will continue its current four-game road trip with a 7 p.m. game Saturday, Jan. 11 at Interstate 10 and in-state rival University of New Orleans at the Lakefront Arena before concluding the swing with a trip to the northeast to take on Providence College in the final non-conference game of the season Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 6:30 p.m. (CST).
-Ragin' Cajuns-
