University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
New Mexico State
Cajuns Need OT, but Complete Three-Game Sweep of Road Trip
1/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005
In the second half, the three-point well ran out for the Aggies, who made none in the second period, allowing Louisiana-Lafayette to rally and force overtime at 70-70.
Chris Cameron, who had no field goals made in regulation play, connected on two three-point baskets in the extra session and the Cajuns defense came up with a pair of last-minute stops to rally for an 89-79 overtime victory over the Aggies here Thursday evening at the Pan American Center.
Cameron's first triple answered one from Mike Mitchell and tied the game at 75-75 in the extra session. His second three-pointer came with 1:31 left in overtime and put the Cajuns ahead to stay at 82-79.
From there, Louisiana-Lafayette finished off the Aggies on the defensive end.
Orien Greene grabbed a defensive rebound off a missed jumper by Josh Jenkins at 1:14 and then lofted a long outlet pass to Dwayne Mitchell who was trailing in the backcourt for an easy dunk and an 84-79 lead.
Greene then came up with a steal on the ensuing possession, picking the pocket of Antwan Alexander and racing in for the layup and the foul for the old-fashioned three-point play that increased the Cajuns lead to 87-79.
The Aggies continued to struggle from field in desperation time and missed their final three attempts as the Cajuns escaped with their third straight Sun Belt road victory.
The win was the Ragin' Cajuns (9-7, 3-1 Sun Belt) third straight overall – the longest win streak of the season and under head coach Robert Lee. It was also the Cajuns seventh straight victory over NMSU and increased Louisiana-Lafayette's lead in the all-time series to 9-2.
Four players scored in double figures for Louisiana-Lafayette led by 22 points by Tiras Wade who claimed team-high scoring honors for the 14th time this season. Joining Wade in double figures were Dwayne Mitchell with a season-high 19, Orien Greene tying his season-high with 18 and Brian Hamilton chipped in with 16 points.
The Cajuns struggled from the field in the opening half, shooting 11-of-33 (33 percent), but rebounded to shoot 14-of-27 (51 percent) in the second half and made 7-of-8 (88 percent) in the overtime period.
NMSU (4-13, 0-4 Sun Belt) suffered its 11th loss in the last 12 outings and was denied its first league win of the season after leading most of the contest. Mike Mitchell led the Aggies with 23 points and four 3-point field goals made.
The turning point in the second half came when the Cajuns were down 51-41 with 13:15 left to play. The visitors rolled of an 11-2 run that cut the NMSU lead to 53-52.
A trio of plays in the final five minutes allowed the Cajuns to force the extra period.
The first was a Dwayne Mitchell three-point basket at 4:37 that closed the Aggies lead to 62-59. Before Mitchell's trey, the Cajuns trailed by six points.
Then trailing 64-61 after NMSU got a stop forcing a Chris Cameron turnover at 3:26, Wade came up with a steal after the Aggies called a timeout. Josh Jenkins was attempting to bring the ball up the floor, but the Cajuns defense forced him to throw an errant pass deep beyond halfcourt. Wade stepped in front of the pass and race in for a slam dunk that cut the lead to 64-63.
Following a missed three-pointer by Duane John at 2:55, Greene cut through the lane making the basket and drawing a foul from Mike Mitchell. Greene made the freebie and the Cajuns led 66-64 with 2:31 left in regulation.
After NMSU regained the lead on a freebie by John at 1:14, Greene was good again inside to put the Cajuns up 68-67.
NMSU retook the lead when Mike Mitchell drew a blocking foul on Hamilton with 29 seconds left, making the three-point play to put the Aggies up 70-68.
NMSU fouled the Cajuns away from the ball following a team timeout forcing the Cajuns to make two free throws. Wade stepped up and made both ends of the 1-and-1 opportunity to tie the game 70-70 and send it into overtime.
Both teams got off to a slow start finding the bottom of the net. A free throw by Jeff Jones at 19:09 were the only points scored until a three-pointer from Allen Haynes at 17:55 became the first field goal of the night and gave the Aggies a 4-0 lead.
Hamilton answered for the Cajuns on the other end. He was fouled on his initial drive to the basket then got the third putback after the indbound pass for the Cajuns first field goal made at 17:22.
Louisiana-Lafayette's next trip down the floor produced the visitor's first lead of the contest. Dwayne Mitchell was caught in the corner on the left wing, but he found Greene who was wide open beyond the arc for a triple that gave the Cajuns a 5-4 lead.
Mike Mitchell answered in the left corner for NMSU to give the hosts a 7-5 lead. That would grow to 9-5 on the next trip down the floor as Josh Jenkins stole the ball from Dwayne Mitchell and coasted in for an uncontested layup.
Louisiana-Lafayette worked its way back into a tie at 11-11 with 13:11 left to play in the opening half when Spencer Ford used his quickness to beat Duane John off the dribble for an easy inside layup.
The Aggies then used a barrage of four three-pointers to fuel a 14-3 run that gave the hosts a 25-14 lead at 11:16.
The Cajuns then took advantage of the hot hand of sharpshooter Tiras Wade to ignite is own rally. Wade's first triple at 10:24 cut the deficit to 25-19. NMSU answered with John slashing his way through the Cajuns defense which left the low post open for John to slip through for an uncontested layup at 9:52 to give the Aggies a 27-19 lead.
Louisiana-Lafayette, similar to last Saturday's game at UNO, made a rally with Wade's second triple pulling the visitors within 27-22. An inside basket from Hamilton at 8:53 trimmed the Aggies margin to 27-24.
The Cajuns then used their defensive prowess to complete a 9-0 run that gave UL Lafayette its second lead of the game. It all started with a steal from Greene on the ensuing possession that led to breakaway slam dunk by Dwayne Mitchell. The Cajuns completed the rally on the Aggies next trip as Greene came away with a swipe and fed it to Dwayne Mitchell for a layup at 8:14 that gave UL Lafayette a 28-27 lead.
NMSU regained the lead 14 seconds later when Byron Davis connected on a three-point attempt.
After a basket by Ford pulled the Cajuns within 32-30, Louisiana-Lafayette went on to miss 13 of its final 14 field goal attempts of the half which included a scoreless drought that lasted the final 4:43 of the half. NMSU used 9-1 run which stretched the halftime lead to 42-31.
Louisiana-Lafayette returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 22, as the Ragin' Cajuns begin a three-game homestand by hosting Sun Belt East Division foe Florida International at the Cajundome. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Box Score
Louisiana-Lafayette at New Mexico State
01/20/05 7:05 p.m. at Pan American Center (Las Cruces, N.M.)
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (9-7, 3-1
SBC) Wade, Tiras 7-15 3-4 22; Mitchell, Dwayne 8-11 2-2 19;
Greene, Orien 5-10 7-8 18; Hamilton, Brian 7-14 2-2 16;
Ford, Spencer 3-8 0-0 7; Cameron, Chris 2-7 1-2 7; James,
Adam 0-1 0-0 0; Mouton, Ross 0-1 0-0 0; Rhodman, Anthony 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 32-68 15-18 89.
NEW MEXICO STATE (4-13, 0-4 SBC) Mitchell, Mike 7-14 5-5 23;
John, Duane 4-13 7-10 15; Jones, Jeff 4-8 4-5 12; Lawrence,
Trevor 4-4 1-1 9; Davis, Byron 2-3 1-2 7; Jenkins, Josh 3-9
0-0 7; Alexander, Antwan 1-5 0-0 3; Haynes, Allen 1-5 0-0 3.
Totals 26-61 18-23 79.
Halftime Score: NMSU 42, UL Lafayette 31. End of Regulation:
NMSU 70, UL Lafayette 70. 3-point goals-UL Lafayette 10-27
(Wade 5-11; Cameron 2-5; Ford 1-4; Mitchell 1-2; Greene 1-3;
Mouton 0-1; Rhodman 0-1), NMSU 9-27 (Mitchell 4-7; Davis
2-2; Haynes 1-5; Jenkins 1-5; Alexander 1-3; John 0-5).
Fouled out--UL-Lafayette-Ford, NMSU-None. Rebounds-UL
Lafayette 39 (Hamilton 10), NMSU 34 (John 14). Assists-UL
Lafayette 15 (Greene 5), NMSU 10 (Jenkins 6). Total fouls-UL
Lafayette 18, NMSU 16. A-4,256
-Ragin' Cajuns-
