University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
New Orleans
Defense Allows Cajuns to Turn the Tables on UNO
1/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005
The Ragin' Cajuns (8-7, 2-1 Sun Belt) can thank their defensive effort, which held UNO to just two field goals over the final 7:36 of the first half and first 4:41 of the second half combined, for the squad picking up its second straight Sun Belt road win and climbing back into the SBC West Division race.
Trailing 25-15 with 7:36 remaining in the first half, the Cajuns defense limited UNO to 1-of-9 shooting and forced the Privateers into five turnovers as Louisiana-Lafayette outscored the hosts 15-4 to take a 30-29 lead at intermission.
Louisiana-Lafayette forced UNO into three more turnovers to start the second half and 1-of-5 shooting as the Cajuns sprinted out on a 9-4 run that created a 39-33 lead with 16:03 left to play.
Then when the Privateers (7-9, 2-1 Sun Belt) rallied to take a 54-53 lead on a three-pointer by Bo McCalebb at 7:21 the Cajuns once again called up its defense to secure the squad's 14th win over UNO in the last 18 meetings.
Orien Greene answered McCalebb's long-distance jumper with one of his own nailing a triple on the right wing at 7:07 that put Louisiana-Lafayette on top 56-54 – a lead the visitors wouldn't give back the rest of the way.
After a missed three-point attempt by Chad Barnes on the ensuing possession, Greene fed Hamilton inside for a mid-range jump shot that gave the Cajuns a 58-54 lead at 6:23.
Hamilton followed up his shot with a defensive stop on the Privateers next trip down the floor.
Hamilton stepped in front of a bounce pass from Jamie McNeilly for the steal at 5:59 and lofted a pass to Ross Mouton who was trailing down the backcourt for an uncontested two-handed slam that vaulted Louisiana-Lafayette into a 60-54 advantage.
The Cajuns zone defense then held the Privateers and McCalebb out of the paint and forced them into several jumpers which the hosts missed over the next two minutes.
UNO still hung around until the final 1:47.
After a pair of freebies from Greene put the Cajuns up 62-55 at 3:40, the Privateers got an inside basket from Shawn Malloy and a turnaround jumper from Jacob Manning pulled the Privateers within a three-point basket at 62-59 with 2:41 left to play.
Tiras Wade turned the ball over for Louisiana-Lafayette on its next possession giving UNO a chance. But, Dwayne Mitchell made the first of several key plays for the Ragin' Cajuns down the stretch to seal the win in his homecoming.
Mitchell nabbed a steal off a turnover by McNeilly at 1:47 and then made six consecutive free throws in the final 1:44 to help the Cajuns pull away.
Mitchell's first two makes created a two possession game giving the Cajuns a 64-59 lead at 1:44.
As a team, Louisiana-Lafayette, which entered night shooting just 55 percent from the charity stripe, made 10-of-10 freebies in that final 1:44 to withhold a late charge by UNO.
The win marked the third straight season that Louisiana-Lafayette handed UNO a loss when the Privateers had a shot to start 3-0 in Sun Belt play for the first time since the 1992-93 season. The Ragin' Cajuns ran their win streak in January road Sun Belt games to seven dating back to a 78-71 win over UNO on Jan. 11, 2003.
Hamilton led the Cajuns with 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Wade and Green had 13 and Mitchell contributed 11 to provide a balanced scoring attack which offset McCalebb's 22.
As a team, Louisiana-Lafayette shot 23-of-27 (85 percent) from the free throw line to just 6-of-10 for UNO.
The Cajuns posted a 42-27 edge on the glass including a 17-9 margin in offensive boards. Mitchell claimed a career-best 12 rebounds for Louisiana-Lafayette and had eight by the half.
McCalebb led the Privateers with 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting, but the Privateers lack of an outside threat – 7-of-22 from three-point range – hurt the hosts chances at making a comeback when the Cajuns lead was just three points with three minutes left in the game.
Both teams took turns with a field goal drought in the first half.
Louisiana-Lafayette went without a field goal until a Greene layup off of a steal at 15:27. UNO opened an 8-2 lead as a result.
A pair of free throws by Chris Cameron evened the scored 2-2 at 18:18 then UNO got inside baskets from Elias and McCalebb to build the six-point edge four minutes into the game.
McCalebb reeled off five straight points by himself after the Greene layup to stake the Privateers to a 13-4 advantage. McCalebb was left open on the right wing on the ensuing possession and he drilled his only three-pointer of the opening half.
Then on the next possession, Mitchell lost hold of the ball and Chad Barnes nabbed the loose ball. Barnes' outlet pass found McCalebb all by himself in the backcourt for an uncontested layup that put UNO up 13-4 at 14:41.
UNO built its largest lead of the half, 27-15 at 6:59, as the Privateers reeled off eight unanswered points after Louisiana-Lafayette had closed the gap to 19-15 with 9:19 remaining before the break.
An inside basket by Elias over Adam James gave UNO a 25-15 lead at 7:36. The Cajuns defense took over, shutting down the hosts from there as UNO would make just one of its final nine field goal attempts.
The Cajuns used a 15-0 run to produce the squad's first lead of the evening after trailing for the first 17 minutes of the contest. Wade's first three-pointer of the game at 2:29 gave Louisiana-Lafayette a 28-27 lead.
Hamilton capped off the run 16 seconds later when Mitchell stole the ball from McCalebb and the Missouri City, Texas, native tipped in Mitchell's missed layup.
Barnes ended the Cajuns' run with a jumper on the right wing 18 seconds before the half as UNO cut the Cajuns lead to 30-29.
Louisiana-Lafayette now turns its attention to the final game of the current three-game road swing as the Ragin' Cajuns venture westward for a matchup against New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M., on Thursday, Jan. 20. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. (CST) at NMSU's Pan American Center in what will be the Cajuns final Sun Belt game in Las Cruces.
Box Score
Louisiana-Lafayette at New Orleans
1/15/05 7 p.m. at New Orleans, La. - Lakefront Arena
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (8-7, 2-1
SBC) Hamilton, Brian 9-12 1-2 19; Greene, Orien 3-8 6-6
13; Wade, Tiras 3-13 5-6 13; Mitchell, Dwayne 2-9 7-8 11;
Mouton, Ross 3-6 0-0 8; Ford, Spencer 2-4 0-1 4; Cameron,
Chris 0-3 4-4 4; James, Adam 0-0 0-0 0; Rhodman, Anthony 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 22-55 23-27 72.
NEW ORLEANS (7-9, 2-1 SBC) McCalebb, Bo 10-19 0-2 22;
Barnes, Chad 4-9 0-0 11; Elias, Ben 4-6 0-0 8; Malloy, Shawn
2-4 4-6 8; McNeilly, Jamie 3-7 0-0 7; Parlow, James 2-6 2-2
7; Parker, Nathaniel 1-4 0-0 2; Manning, Jacob 1-4 0-0 2;
Simelton, Kenny 0-0 0-0 0; Bostic, Todd 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
27-60 6-10 67.
Halftime Score: Louisiana-Lafayette 30, UNO 29. 3-point goals-Louisiana-Lafayette 5-15 (Mouton 2-4; Wade 2-7; Greene 1-3; Ford 0-1), New Orleans 7-22 (Barnes 3-7; McCalebb 2-7; Parlow 1-4; McNeilly 1-2; Manning 0-1; Bostic 0-1). Fouled out- Louisiana-Lafayette-None, New Orleans-McNeilly. Rebounds-Louisiana-Lafayette 42 (Mitchell 12), New Orleans 27 (Malloy 9). Assists-Louisiana-Lafayette 12 (Greene 3; Mitchell 3), New Orleans 20 (Barnes 7). Total fouls-Louisiana-Lafayette 14, New Orleans 23. A-1,521.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
