University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Little Rock
Cajuns Hold On To Edge UALR 70-66
2/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns concluded their 2003-2004 season with a 70-66 win over Arkansas-Little Rock Saturday night at the Cajundome.
With the win, UL Lafayette finishes the season 17-8 overall and 12-3 in the Sun Belt Arkansas-Little Rock drops to 16-11 overall and 9-5 in conference.
The crowd of 7,117 witnessed a defensive match that featured a total of 44 fouls as well as a combined 39 turnovers.
Senior and New Orleans native Antoine Landry scored a game-high 24 points shooting 7 of14 from the field including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. Senior leader Brad Boyd finished with 15 points in his home finale.
Landry's fellow senior Laurie Bridges led the Cajuns with a game-high 13 rebounds. Dwayne Mitchell finished second in that category with six boards.
Jamal Holden led the Trojans with 17 points, while Darius Eason and Zack Wright led UALR with seven boards.
The Cajuns and Trojans began the first half in a back and forth battle. Chris Cameron laid in the first basket at the 19:33 mark to give the Cajuns their first points of the night. Boyd quickly followed with a 3-pointer giving the Cajuns a 5-0 lead. Arkansas-Little Rock followed with a 6-0 for their first and only lead of the first half.
Orien Green's jumper from the top of the key at the 7:20 mark ignited a 14-0 Cajuns run. Landry knocked down two threes in a row to increase the Cajuns lead to 34-17 lead with 3:03 remaining. Landry led the Cajuns with 17 points at the end of the first half on 6-of-9 shooting including four from the perimeter. The Trojans closed out the first half hitting three of their next four shots. The Cajuns went into the locker room with a 36-23 lead at the half.
Both Louisiana-Lafayette and UALR started the second half slowly, accounting for only eight points between the two teams in the first five minutes of play. Neither team got great looks at the basket. Boyd did; however, drain a three-pointer at the 17:27 mark helping to widen the Cajuns advantage. Landry would answer with his fifth three of the night with 14:59 remaining increasing the score to 43-29.
The Trojans pulled within nine at the 9:34 mark with a Zack Wright lay-up. The Cajuns quickly responded hitting their next three shots to take a 58-41 lead with 7:05 remaining in the contest.
The Trojans charged back outscoring the Cajuns 17-3 in the next five minutes as the home team watched their lead dwindle to five with 2:17 remaining.
The determinate Cajuns would not be denied as they went 7-of-10 from the free throw line. Boyd iced the victory for the Cajuns knocking down his final two free throws giving the Cajuns an insurmountable 70-64 advantage.
The Cajuns will accept the number one seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament which gets underway Saturday, March 5 in Boling Green, KY.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
