University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
South Alabama
Cameron Ignites Second-Half Surge As Cajuns Run Away From South Alabama
2/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005
With the win, the Ragin' Cajuns move into a first-place tie in the Sun Belt Conference's West Division with co-leader Denver (14-8, 8-2). DU lost 84-79 at Western Kentucky. The win was also Louisiana-Lafayette's fifth straight in the 'Dome and 26th in the last 29 SBC contests in the facility.
Louisiana-Lafayette (14-8, 8-2 Sun Belt) was held to just 21 points in the first half and entered the second half having made just 2-of-14 field goals in the final 12:08 of the opening stanza. Two minutes into the second half and the Cajuns offense was still in neutral and knotted in a 23-23 tie.
When the Ragin' Cajuns needed someone to step up and make a shot to deliver a boost to its offense, 6-foot-11 center Chris Cameron took a feed from Dwayne Mitchell and lofted an arching three-pointer from the top of the key that hit nothing but net and gave the Cajuns the lead for good at 26-23 at 17:55.
Cameron's triple began a stretch where Louisiana-Lafayette made five straight field goals to increase its lead to 35-25 with 15:15 left to play in the game.
After a layup by Jacque Pate at 17:18 cut the Cajuns lead to 26-25, it was Cameron again with a much-needed basket this time hitting a fadeaway jumper 19 feet out on the left wing to make it 28-25.
Cameron's five-point swing seemed to recharge the Cajuns defense which continued to make stop-after-stop and held the Jaguars to just six field goals in the decisive second half. USA ended the contest with 12 field goals made, but didn't reach double figures made until 2:39 remained in the game and the Cajuns led 57-39.
The one play that seemed to light a fire for the Louisiana-Lafayette defense came on the Jaguars possession after the Cameron jumper gave the hosts the 28-25 lead. Carlos Smith was controlling the ball driving the Jaguars up the court with the chance for a potential tying score. But, like a quarterback throwing a wounded duck for an interception, Smith tossed the ball right into the hands of Tiras Wade who raced his way up court and found Brian Hamilton trailing for an alley-oop stuff that sent shockwaves through the crowd of 4,854 and gave the Cajuns a 30-25 edge.
The Louisiana-Lafayette defense pressured USA into two turnovers on its next two trips down the floor which led to baskets by Wade and Orien Greene – Greene's basket was a three-point field goal that all but sealed the victory and put the Cajuns on top 35-25.
A Daniel Northern free throw at 14:58 cut the Cajuns lead to 35-26 and marked the final time that South Alabama was within single digits. Hamilton got the offensive putback of a Greene miss at 14:44 to go in at 14:41 and get the lead back into double-digits for the rest of the evening.
Louisiana-Lafayette's defense forced South Alabama into 11 second half turnovers. Included in that number was a stretch from the 17 minute mark until 11:59 where the Cajuns induced turnovers from the Jaguars on eight-of-10 possessions leading to a 13-1 run that stretched a 28-25 game into a 41-26 lead.
USA fought back and closed with 10 points at 7:31 and 11 points at 6:44. However, the Jaguars inability to put the ball in the basket combined with three-point answers from Wade and Greene respectively each time allowed the Cajuns to maintain their comfortable lead.
The Jaguars were still within 15 points, 58-43, before an intentional foul assessed to Pate led to a heated exchange between one of the referees and USA head coach John Pelphrey. Pelphrey was whistled for two technical fouls and freebies from Wade pushed the Cajuns lead to 63-43 with 1:53 left to play.
The Cajuns' largest lead was 22 points when a jumper by Greene at 1:24 made it 65-43.
Wade led the Ragin' Cajuns with 22 points which included a game-high four 3-point makes. It was Wade who made the final two Louisiana-Lafayette field goals in the first half during the 2-for-14 stretch in the final 12:08. Wade's last triple of the first half helped the Cajuns cut into a 23-16 USA lead.
Hamilton made 7-of-8 attempts and scored 16 points – the 14th straight outing in double digits for the senior from Houston.
South Alabama was led in scoring by Mario Jointer who had 13 points.
The margin of victory for Louisiana-Lafayette was its largest over USA in the CAJUNDOME and second-largest in the 37-game series overall. It marked the Cajuns fourth straight victory of the Jaguars and marked the first time that Louisiana-Lafayette swept the regular season series from its I-10 rivals since the 2002-03 season.
USA's 45 points were its lowest scored in the CAJUNDOME eclipsing the previous low of 48 set on Feb. 8, 1996 and Jan. 21, 1999.
The Cajuns defense held South Alabama to six field goals apiece in each half – 6-of-20 in the first half and 6-of-18 in the second half – and held the Jaguars to 31.6 percent shooting for the game.
Louisiana-Lafayette dragged its feet through the opening half, shooting just 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) and committing 10 turnovers, but found its rhythm in the second frame by shooting 16-of-29 (55.2 percent) and committing just four turnovers.
Louisiana-Lafayette held a 12-10 lead with 12:08 remaining in the first half after Hamilton spun around two defenders for a reverse layup. The Cajuns offense then disappeared as the team finished the half 2-of-14 and were outscored 13-9.
Wade had the Cajuns only two baskets in that final 12:08, both three-point field goals. The first triple by Wade put the Cajuns up 15-14 at 6:30. The offense then went into a hole and USA reeled off nine straight points to open a 23-16 lead.
Good news for the Cajuns was that USA couldn't buy a basket either. When the Jaguars grabbed the lead and pushed it to 23-16, they couldn't hit a shot which would have buried Louisiana-Lafayette deeper.
As a result, the Cajuns hung around and Wade's second triple made it 23-19 with 54 seconds left before halftime. UL Lafayette then got a stop on the next Jaguars' possession getting a block from Adam James. Cameron was fouled on the rebound and then buried two free throws to close the gap to 23-21.
Louisiaan-Lafayette returns to action and continues its current four-game homestand on Saturday, Feb. 12 against in-state rival New Orleans at 7:05 p.m., in the CAJUNDOME. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and carried locally on Cox Sports (cable channel 27 in Lafayette viewing area).
SOUTH ALABAMA (6-15, 3-7 SBC)
Jointer, Mario 3-10 6-8 13; Collins, Jeffrey 3-8 4-5 10;
Northern, Daniel 2-10 4-6 8; Law, Richard 1-3 4-4 7; Smith,
Carlos 2-4 0-0 5; Pate, Jacque 1-2 0-0 2; Gordon, Brandon
0-0 0-0 0; Ba, Tamsir 0-0 0-0 0; Delk, Leslie 0-1 0-0 0;
Spencer, Shane 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-38 18-23 45.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (14-8, 8-2 SBC) Wade, Tiras 6-11 6-7 22;
Hamilton, Brian 7-8 2-4 16; Cameron, Chris 3-9 4-5 11;
Greene, Orien 4-10 0-0 9; Mitchell, Dwayne 2-5 1-1 6; Fobbs,
Cletis 1-1 0-0 2; Ford, Spencer 0-3 1-2 1; James, Adam 0-1
0-1 0; Mouton, Ross 0-3 0-0 0; Gray, Derek 0-2 0-0 0;
Williams, Alphonso 0-0 0-0 0; Rhodman, Anthony 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 23-53 14-20 67.
South Alabama head coach John
Pelphrey received two technical fouls at 1:53 mark of second
half; ejected from game
South Alabama's Jacque Pate assessed an intentional foul at
1:53 of 2nd half
-Ragin' Cajuns-
