University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Georgia State
Defense Does the Trick Second Time Around Against Georgia State
12/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Monday, Dec. 20, 2004
LAFAYETTE – Aided by a 15-5 run over the final 6:20 of the opening half Louisiana-Lafayette was able to turn a two-point deficit into an eight-point halftime lead and combined with a suffocating defense in the second half defeated Georgia State 67-50 here Monday night at the Cajundome.
That run turned a 21-19 deficit with six minutes left in the first half into a 34-26 lead for the home team at intermission.
The Cajuns defense did not allow the Panthers to get many inside looks in the second half and held GSU to just 28 percent shooting (7-of-25) as Louisiana-Lafayette opened many a double-digit lead and cruised the rest of the way.
The stat was key considering the Cajuns (4-5) were battling a cold-shooting second half themselves, shooting just 32 percent (9-of-28).
Brian Hamilton scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half – none bigger than the first four which came on a 16-foot jumper after back-to-back offensive rebounds to start the half and an inside basket at 18:06 which gave Louisiana-Lafayette a 38-26 lead.
Hamilton's baskets extended the Cajuns end-of-the-first half run to 19-5 and was the push the hosts needed to keep the Panthers on their heels.
Hamilton collected a double-double as he pulled down 12 rebounds. The senior from Houston grabbed seven boards in the second half as the Cajuns out-hustled the Panthers and had a 25-15 edge on the glass in the second half.
The Cajuns' lead never fell below eight points as GSU (3-6) was held to just 12 points through the first 14 minutes of the second stanza.
Georgia State crept within eight points, 45-37, at 8:50 when Kevin Thomas converted a backdoor layup off a feed from Herman Favors. UL Lafayette then used a 6-1 run to stretch the lead to 51-38 with 5:40 left to play.
Louisiana-Lafayette's lead reached 15 points after a pair of free throws by Dwayne Mitchell made it 58-43 with 2:03 remaining.
Thomas closed the Panthers to 12 with a triple on the left wing at 1:49 cutting the lead to 58-46.
Mitchell ended any chances of the Panthers pulling within single digits when he took a long inbounds pass from Hamilton and raced in for an easy dunk to give the Cajuns a 60-46 edge.
Louisiana-Lafayette placed four players in double-figures scoring. Tiras Wade scored a game-high 18 points as he led the Cajuns in scoring for the ninth time in as many games. Wade also posted 10 rebounds to collect his first double-double of the season.
The Cajuns defense was the difference in the rematch on an 85-78 GSU win on Nov. 29 in Atlanta. UL Lafayette held the Panthers to just 33 percent shooting (18-of-54) after GSU shot 62 percent (23-of-37) in the November meeting.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Louisiana-Lafayette and extended the Cajuns' non-conference home winning streak to 14 games dating back to the 2001-02 season.
Marcus Brown led the Panthers with 14 points and was joined by Thomas (13 points) in double figures.
The two teams combined for just six points through the first four minutes as shots seemed hard to come by and defense prevailed. UL Lafayette started out 1-for-9 while GSU made just one of its first four attempts.
The shots began to fall after the first media timeout as the Panthers clung to a 15-13 lead with 10:33 remaining in the half.
Kevin Thomas and Ross Mouton traded three-point baskets over a span of 13 seconds and both teams were knotted 6-6 at 15:05.
Trading baskets was the norm over the next nine-plus minutes as neither team was able to create a lead larger than four points.
Marcus Brown went down the left baseline and hit a turnaround jumper off glass to give the Panthers a 17-13 lead with 10:03 remaining in the first half.
After an inside basket by Mitchell at 6:56 tied the game for the sixth time, Copeland knocked down a 15-foot jumper after back-to-back offensive rebounds to give GSU a 21-19 lead.
What transpired after the Copeland bucket was a 10-0 run by Louisiana-Lafayette that swung all of the momentum over to the hosts and vaulted the Cajuns to a 29-21 lead with 2:24 left to play in the half.
After a free throw by Chris Cameron gave cut the GSU lead to 21-20 a layup by Mitchell at 5:18 put the Cajuns up for good 22-21.
The key stretch of the run came at 4:25 when Mitchell stole the ball from Malcolm Manier and cruised in for a stuff. Then on the ensuing possession Thomas missed a layup that was rebounded by Spencer Ford. Ford got the ball to Mitchell who found Derek Gray in the left corner for a three-point basket that increased the Cajuns lead to 27-21.
Louisiana-Lafayette will return to action on Thursday for its final game before the Christmas Holidays. The Ragin' Cajuns visit in-state rival McNeese State for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Lake Charles Civic Center.
BOX SCORE
Georgia State at Louisiana-Lafayette
12/20/04 7:05 p.m. at Lafayette, La. (Cajundome)
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 67, GEORGIA STATE 50
GEORGIA STATE
(3-6)Brown 5-11 2-2 14; Thomas 5-12 0-2 13; Morgan 2-5 4-5
8; Copeland 3-8 1-2 7; Dickerson 2-2 1-2 5; Favors 1-9 0-0
3; Billingslea 0-0 0-0 0; Barnett 0-2 0-0 0; Morris 0-2 0-0
0; Manier 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-54 8-13 50.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (4-5) Wade 6-15 5-6 18; Mitchell 5-9 5-6
15; Hamilton 4-9 3-4 11; Mouton 4-8 0-0 10; Ford 2-3 2-3 6;
Cameron 1-6 1-2 3; Gray 1-4 0-0 3; Rhodman 0-3 1-2 1; James
0-0 0-0 0; Fobbs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 17-23 67.
Georgia
State................. 26 24 - 50
Louisiana-Lafayette........... 34 33 - 67
3-point goals - Georgia State 6-18 (Thomas 3-6; Brown 2-4; Favors 1-4; Barnett 0-1; Morris 0-1; Manier 0-2), Louisiana-Lafayette 4-15 (Mouton 2-4; Gray 1-4; Wade 1-5; Rhodman 0-2). Fouled out - Georgia State-Morgan ; Copeland , Louisiana-Lafayette-None. Rebounds - Georgia State 29 (Thomas 7), Louisiana-Lafayette 43 (Hamilton 12). Assists - Georgia State 6 (Favors 3), Louisiana-Lafayette 14 (Mitchell 5). Total fouls - Georgia State 22, Louisiana-Lafayette 12. A-3478
-Ragin' Cajuns-
