University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
(15) NC State
Missed Shots Keep Cajuns From Upset of N.C. State
3/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Friday, March 19, 2004
No. 14 seed Louisiana-Lafayette (20-9) led for much of the first half and grabbed a 16-13 lead with 9:16 left in the opening frame before the lid was put on the basket and NCSU made its rally.
The Ragin' Cajuns failed to make a field goal the rest of the half, missing their final seven attempts, and as a result the Wolfpack (21-9) instituted a 14-7 run that gave them a 27-23 lead at the break.
The spurt gave N.C. State the lead for
good as the Wolfpack held the Cajuns without a field goal in
the first 2:20 of the second half and opened up a 32-23
advantage.
Louisiana-Lafayette kept it interesting, cutting its biggest deficit -- 11 points -- to seven on Antoine Landry's 3-pointer with just under two minutes to go.
North Carolina State put the game away by going 6-for-6 from the foul line the rest of the way. The Wolfpack, the nation's leading free throw shooting team, converted 15-of-17 freebies in the second half to just 5-of-8 for the Cajuns.
Landry led Louisiana-Lafayette with 16 points, but the Ragin' Cajuns shot just 32.7 percent from the field, including 5-for-22 on 3-point attempts.
The Sun Belt Conference champions thrived on 3-point shots during the regular season, but misfired on 11 of 12 attempts from beyond the arc in the opening half.
Second-leading scoring Brad Boyd
finished 1-for-7 from behind the line. Orien Greene, a
transfer from Florida with the most NCAA Tournament
experience, was 0-for-5 but did hand out a game-high six
assists.
Marcus Melvin scored 20 points and N.C. State (21-9) survived a subpar performance by ACC player of the year Julius Hodge, who struggled all afternoon and was held to 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting. The Cajuns defense had the clamps on Hodge the entire first half as he scored just four points.
Brian Hamilton led the Cajuns with eight rebounds and was tied with Greene for team-high honors with four steals.
The loss was the Cajuns third straight
in NCAA Tournament play and second under head coach Jessie
Evans. UL Lafayette is now 4-9 all-time in eight NCAA
Tournament appearances.
The 52 points scored was the Cajuns second-lowest scoring output of the season.
Louisiana-Lafayette scored the game's first four points on a pair of inside baskets by Chris Cameron that gave the Cajuns a 4-0 lead at the 18:49 mark.
NCSU took its first lead of the game using a 9-0 run over the next 3 ˝ minutes. Melvin made two three-point baskets to key the Wolfpack's run.
Landry's first 3-pointer of the contest at 13:20 gave the Cajuns the lead once more at 10-9 and capped off a 6-0 run.
After falling behind 13-10, Louisiana-Lafayette made another run scoring eight unanswered to take its largest lead of the game 18-13 with 8:42 left in the half.
NCSU regained control, the fifth time
the lead changed in the first half, when Cameron Bennerman
converted a pair of free throws at 6:41.
The Cajuns were able to hang in despite a field goal drought of nine-plus minutes thanks to a defense that held NCSU to 29 percent shooting in the first half (9-of-31).
The Wolfpack kept the momentum going at the start of the second half and turned the tide in their favor. NCSU made its first five field goals of the second half and didn't miss one until 12 minutes remained in the game.
As a result, the Wolfpack opened up its first double-digit lead of the game and led 40-30 at the under-12 minutes media timeout.
UL Lafayette fought back, but could never get the deficit to drop below seven points. Crucial turnovers led to NCSU buckets that prevented the Cajuns from creeping closer.
The Cajuns were within seven points
following Landry's final triple of the game at 1:53 and had
control of the ball with 1:10 left, but Boyd's pass to
Greene on the right wing went wide and sailed out-of-bounds
for a critical miscue.
NCSU responded with a jumper from Ilian Evtimov that pushed the advantage back to nine points
NCSU secured the victory by making six free throws in the final 31 seconds including a stretch of four straight that increased the lead to 59-48 with 18 seconds left to play.
GAME NOTES:
• First-ever meeting between the two schools.
• N.C. State advances to play the winner of #6 Vanderbilt vs. #11 Western Michigan on Sunday at 12:10 p.m. (ET)
• UL Lafayette's season comes to a close at 20-9. The Cajuns finished their seventh season under head coach Jessie Evans.
• Final game for four seniors: Brad Boyd, Laurie Bridges, Antoine Landry and Chris Williams.
• Cajuns first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000 and eighth in program history.
• Cajuns tied a season-low shooting 22 percent from three-point range.
• UL Lafayette had 22 bench points to none (0) for N.C. State.
• Both teams shot below 40 percent – UL Lafayette (32.7) and NCSU (36.7).
• Head coach Jessie Evans remains winless all-time in postseason games (2000 NCAA, 2002 & 2003 NIT, 2004 NCAA)
• A Sun Belt Conference team has not won an NCAA Tournament game since the first round of the 1995 tournament when Western Kentucky defeated Michigan 82-76.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
