University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
South Alabama
Greene's Hot Hand Helps Cajuns Rally For Eighth Straight Victory
2/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004
The win avenges the Cajuns only conference loss of the season and extends their season-high winning streak to eight games. South Alabama dropped its fifth straight overall and sixth straight in Sun Belt play.
UL Lafayette improves to 14-5 (9-1 Sun Belt), while South Alabama falls to 9-13 (3-7 Sun Belt)
After the Jaguars built a 68-59 lead, Green started to dominate the game. He dug the Cajuns out of their hole with three consecutive triples from the top of the key, tying the score at 68-68 with 4:55 remaining in the contest.
The Cajuns forced a turnover on a shot clock violation, then Laurie Bridges found Cedric Williams underneath for an easy dump-in and the lead.
Following a free throw by Michael Phillips, Greene buried his sixth three-pointer of the game to give the Cajuns a 73-69 edge with 2:20 to play.
Phillips's basket closed USA within two, but Dwayne Mitchell's dunk put the Cajuns ahead by four once more.
Shane Spencer drove uncontested for a lay-up to cut the score to 75-73 with 59 seconds on the clock.
Greene found Williams for another basket underneath. Williams converted and was fouled with 42.4 seconds showing. Williams missed the free throw.
USA looked to their leading scorer Malerick Bedden, who had just five points. Bedden missed a short jumper and the ball went back to the Cajuns with 18.9 on the clock.
Brian Hamilton was fouled and went to the line to shoot one-and-one with 15.5 left, but missed the first shot.
A Jaguars turnover gave the Cajuns back the ball and Antoine Landry went back to the line. He hit two free throws with 4.7 seconds left.
Greene led all players with a career-high 28 points, while also collecting five boards, four steals, four assists and a block. Landry added 15 points.
A three-point play 14 seconds into the second half gave Phillips 20 points and his Jaguars a 40-36 lead.
UL Lafayette waited to make their run as the Cajuns would never let their deficit grow larger than five points over the next five minutes.
Down 48-44, the Cajuns went on a 7-0 spurt in 1:31 to take a 51-48 lead with less than 12 minutes remaining.
USA countered with eight unanswered points in 1:37 to grab a 56-51 lead. From there, both teams would begin an aerial assault.
Henry Williams scored seven straight points to give the Jaguars a 68-59 lead.
The Cajuns won the rebounding battle 30-28, after trailing 17-14 at the half. The Cajuns committed 15 turnovers, but not one after the 10:47 mark in the game.
The Cajuns started slowly, allowing USA a 17-10 lead in the first 7:28.
Antoine Landry's three-pointer started an 11-4 Cajuns run. After Greene hit a triple, Landry hit another from behind the arc and added a lay-up to give the Cajuns their first lead, 21-19, with 7:42 remaining in the half.
After a free throw by Henry Williams, Michael Phillips gave the Jaguars back the lead, but Greene's fade-away jumper put the Cajuns back in front. Phillips countered with another basket, but Chris Cameron's offensive tip-in put the Cajuns on top 25-24.
Phillips then outscored the Cajuns 5-2 over the next minute, giving USA a 29-27 lead at the 4:04 mark.
After a Phillips basket gave the Jaguars a 35-30 lead, the Cajuns ended the half with a 6-2 run in the final minute to pull within one-point, 37-36, at the break.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
