University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
North Texas
Cajuns Take 80-67 Home Finale Win over North Texas
2/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005
LAFAYETTE – Four players scored in double figures, as Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns registered their four straight double-digit Sun Belt Conference victory with an 80-67 win over North Texas here Saturday night at the Cajundome. A season-high 6,954 fans were on hand to watch Senior Night, as the Cajuns win their seventh Sun Belt home game this season.
The Cajuns have now won 11 of their last 12 games, while the loss snaps North Texas' two-game winning streak.
Prior to Saturday's game, the Cajuns honored four seniors - Chris Cameron, Orien Greene, Brian Hamilton and Dwayne Mitchell - during Senior Night festivities.
Tiras Wade led all scorers with 19 points, while Hamilton and Mitchell each added 16 points for Louisiana-Lafayette (17-8, 11-2 Sun Belt). Leonard Hopkins led North Texas (13-12, 5-8 Sun Belt) with 13 points. Hopkins was held without a field goal for the entire second half.
Greene had five points on 1-of-10 shooting, while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out a game-high seven assists. Spencer Ford came off the bench to add 11 points for the Cajuns. Cameron added eight points on 2-of-11 shooting.
North Texas outrebounded the Ragin' Cajuns 41-31, while the Cajuns forced 25 Mean Green turnovers. The Cajuns only turned the ball over 15 times.
With a seven-point halftime advantage, UL Lafayette began the second half on a 17-6 run to increase their lead to 18, 61-43, with 12:02 remaining in regulation. From there, the Mean Green wouldn't get any closer than 11 points, 78-67, with 23 seconds remaining.
The Cajuns were unable to find an answer for North Texas' Leonard Hopkins until the second half when the Cajuns held Hopkins to no field goals. Hopkins had just three points in the second half - all free throws.
In the first half, the Mean Green were up by as many as 10 points, 25-15, with 10:00 remaining in the half. The Cajuns used a 16-4 run to take their first lead since the 15:37 mark, 31-29. During the run, five different Cajuns registered a basket. North Texas responded with five unanswered points to regain the lead, 34-31, with 4:31 remaining.
The Cajuns closed out the first half on a 13-3 run keyed by four points each from Chris Cameron and Dwayne Mitchell to take a 44-37 halftime advantage. Mitchell led all scorers at halftime with 11 points, while Wade and Hopkins each had 10.
The Mean Green outrebounded the Cajuns 20-13 in the first half. The Cajuns forced 13 first-half North Texas turnovers.
Louisiana-Lafayette will now close out its 2004-05 regular season with a two-game road swing in Arkansas. On Thursday, the Cajuns will face Arkansas State at 7:05 p.m. and Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday at 1 p.m. Saturday's game against UALR will be televised on ESPN2.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
