University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Florida International
Cameron Ignites Second-Half Surge as Cajuns Advance to Sun Belt Tournament Title Game
3/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Monday, March 7, 2005
Leading 53-47 with 13 minutes remaining Cameron made the first of back-to-back three-pointers at the 12:22 mark to push the lead to 56-47. After FIU tried to answer from long range with Junior Matias and failed, it was Cameron again on the other end with another triple at 11:47 to push the Cajuns lead back into double digits for the rest of the game.
When the Golden Panthers attempted to crawl back into single digits on a three-point attempt by Warren Gale, Orien Greened nabbed the loose ball rebound for the Ragin' Cajuns and sent a long outlet pass to Cameron on the fastbreak for an easy layup that stretched the lead to 61-47.
From that point on Louisiana-Lafayette (19-10) coasted to the 80-69 semifinal round win over FIU (13-17) advancing the Ragin' Cajuns to the championship game against 2004-05 Sun Belt West Division champion Denver at 8 p.m. (CST) on Tuesday, March 8. The game will give the Cajuns to exact revenge on the Pioneers for the regular season series sweep endured and for ending the Cajuns run of three straight SBC West Division titles.
With the win, Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Robert Lee set the school record for most wins by a rookie coach. Lee's 19 wins so far this season surpasses the previous record of 18 set by his former boss Jessie Evans (18-13 in 1997-98).
Louisiana-Lafayette advances to its seventh appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament championship game and will get the chance to defend its 2004 championship. Last season, the Cajuns downed in-state rival New Orleans 67-58 for the fourth tournament title in program history. The Cajuns, tournament champions in 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2004, will go for tourney title for the first time in an odd-numbered year.
Tiras Wade led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting. The
junior transfer from East Tennessee State nailed four
3-pointers.
The Ragin' Cajuns had two players reach double figures in rebounds with Brian Hamilton collecting a season-high 14 rebounds and Dwayne Mitchell netting 11 to go along with 14 points for his second straight double-double.
The Cajuns held down their turnovers for the second straight night committing just 12 turnovers. Louisiana-Lafayette also had a commanding edge on the boards for the second straight night by outboarding the Golden Panthers 37-28 including an 18-5 edge on the offensive glass.
Louisiana-Lafayette opened the game on a 10-2 run forcing six FIU turnovers through the first four minutes of the contest.
Tiras Wade got the scoring going with a three-pointer on the
Cajuns first possession. On FIU's trip down the floor the
Cajuns forced a turnover which led to a quick feed to Chris Cameron in transition on the other end for a quick 5-0 lead
at the 18:59 mark.
The Cajuns held the Golden Panthers off the scoreboard until Ismael N'Diaye grabbed the loose ball off of his own turnover and got a layup to make it 7-2.
The Golden Panthers, a team that entered the contest shooting 30 percent from three-point range, made 5-of-6 three-point attempts in the opening half to stay within striking distance.
An Ivan Almonte triple at 14:48 pulled the Golden Panthers within 10-6. Then when the Cajuns stretched the lead to six points at 17-11 Antonio Jones was good for the Golden Panthers third triple between the 15-minute media timeout and 11-minute media break to close the gap to 17-14.
Louisiana-Lafayette would then score six unanswered to open a nine-point lead at 23-14. The Golden Panthers kept clawing back in, this time with a Junior Matias three-point field goal at 10:13 to close the gap to 23-17.
FIU was still within five points at 36-31 with 2:16 left to play in the contest. The Ragin' Cajuns got timely three-point baskets from Dwayne Mitchell and Orien Greene in the final two minutes that stretched the lead back to nine points at halftime.
For a brief moment in the opening stages of the second half the Ragin' Cajuns loss their focus and shooting touch. The Cajuns opened the half missing their first three field goal attempts as FIU opened with a 6-0 run over the first two minutes to cut the Cajuns lead to 44-41.
A slam dunk by Hamilton on a fastbreak after a missed three-pointer by Ismael N'Diaye help the Cajuns shake off the rust and open a 46-41 lead.
The Golden Panthers got a dunk of their own on the next trip down as Byron Burnett worked around Cajun defenders to close the gap 46-43 with 16:37 left to play.
FIU was still within four points at 48-44 after an Almonte freebie at 15:59.
Cameron began his second half surge, which saw the Aussie pile up 18 points en route to tying his season-high of 19, with the first of three triples over the next four minutes that pushed the Cajuns edge to 51-44.
FIU would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as Louisiana-Lafayette waltzed its way to its eighth straight win over the Golden Panthers to increase the all-time series lead to 10-2.
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (13-17)
Matias, Junior 4-8 7-9 17; Almonte, Ivan 5-7 3-7 14; N'Diaye,
Ismael 4-8 2-4 10; Burnett, Byron 5-7 0-2 10; Simms, Kenny
3-6 1-2 7; Chavez-Jacobo, Cesar 1-1 0-0 3; Jones, Antonio
1-2 0-0 3; Lewis, Jayce 1-5 0-0 3; Gale, Warren 1-2 0-0 2.
Totals 25-46 13-24 69.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (19-10) Wade, Tiras 9-19 3-4 25;
Cameron, Chris 7-14 2-3 19; Mitchell, Dwayne 5-9 2-2 14;
Hamilton, Brian 5-13 3-6 13; Greene, Orien 3-9 2-2 9;
Mouton, Ross 0-1 0-0 0; James, Adam 0-1 0-0 0; Ford, Spencer
0-1 0-0 0; Fobbs, Cletis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-67 12-17 80.
Halftime: UL 44-35. 3-point goals - FIU 6-15 (Matias 2-5; Chavez 1-1; Lewis 1-3; Almonte 1-1; Jones 1-1; Gale 0-1; N'Diaye 0-3), UL 10-21 (Wade 4-8; Cameron 3-6; Mitchell 2-3; Greene 1-3; Ford 0-1). Fouled out - FIU-Simms, UL-Greene. Rebounds-FIU 28 (Almonte 8), UL 37 (Hamilton 14). Assists - FIU 13 (Almonte 4), UL 12 (Greene 5). Total fouls - FIU 19, UL 18. A – 778.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
