University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
(22) Tennessee
Lofton Carries Vols Past Cajuns
11/27/2006 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LAFAYETTE - For the third straight outing Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team fought back from a double-digit deficit, but Tennessee held on in the end for a 77-67 victory here Monday evening at the Cajundome.
The Ragin' Cajuns trailed 61-47 with 13 minutes remaining and used a 15-4 run over the next five minutes to cut the UT lead to 65-62 with 8:25 remaining. It was the second rally from double-digits after UL trailed 37-24 in the closing minutes of the first half to trim the halftime deficit to 38-30.
Louisiana-Lafayette (1-4) was within one point after an Adam James free throw at 4:24 closed the gap to 67-65.
Chris Lofton, who led the Volunteers (5-2) with 31 points, hit a three-pointer at 3:54 ? his seventh triple of the contest ? to push the advantage to five points at 70-65.
Ross Mouton missed a three-pointer on the Cajuns return trip and after battling for the rebound the ball went out-of-bounds last touched by the Vols. The Cajuns missed a chance at a second chance for points when they failed to get the inbounds pass in and were whistled for a five-second violation.
The Vols Wayne Chism drew a foul on the ensuing possession with 2:51 remaining. He hit the first free throw and missed the second. Chism would get the rebound on the miss and although UT wasn't able to get any points after the rebound the team did chew off one minute on the game clock.
After Chism's rebound, he would miss a three-point attempt that Josh Tabb would run down for another offensive rebound which allowed the Vols to keep the ball until the 2:06 mark.
Lofton was called for a check foul at 1:42 and David Dees knocked down two free throws to cut the UT lead to 71-67. The Vols answered quickly when Dane Bradshaw sent a bounce pass into the lane and Lofton grabbed the ball for a backdoor layup that made it 73-67.
The Ragin' Cajuns missed their final three shot attempts and the Vols added four more free throws for the final margin.
UL got a season-best four players scoring in double figures led by 22 points from Mouton. Dees added 18 ? his fourth 18-point game of the season. Joining them in double figures were Rhett Hebert with 12 and Valentino Hart with 10.
Hart led the rebounding charge for the Cajuns grabbing 17 boards to complete his first career double-double. Hart had over half of the Cajuns' 33 rebounds as UL won the battle of the boards 33-31.
Louisiana-Lafayette connected on 50 percent of its shots (26-of-52) and cut down on turnovers in the second half committing only six after 14 in the opening stanza.
Tennessee was led by Lofton who shot 12-of-17 from the floor and 7-of-11 from three-point range. JaJuan Smith was the only other UT player to reach double figures as he scored 11 points.
The Cajuns jumped in front 4-3 at 17:44 when Mouton found Hart on the low post for a inside bucket.
The Vols regained the lead at 16:36 when Bradshaw cut into the lane for a reverse layup. A Lofton three-pointer at 15:31 upped the UT lead to 8-4.
The Cajuns were attempting a home run pass for a quick answer, but the pass was intercepted near midcourt. Lofton turned the turnover into points when he buried his second straight triple at 15:13 increasing the lead to 11-4.
The Ragin' Cajuns crept within two points getting a Mouton jumper in the left corner at 11:51 to trim the deficit to 12-10.
The Vols upped the lead to 10 points as the clock crept under 11 minutes. Leading 14-10, JaJuan Smith and Jordan Howell knocked down three-pointers that were 19 seconds apart upping the lead to 20-10 at 10:51.
The two teams swapped baskets between the 9:47 mark and 8:13 mark and the Vols maintained a 10-point lead at 24-14. The lead moved to 12 points when Crews stuffed home the basket after a Hart block at 7:40 making it 26-14.
Louisiana-Lafayette worked the lead back into single digits in the final two minutes. At 1:41 Rhett Hebert ran the floor and scored a transition basket to cut the UT lead to 37-26.
Two possessions later, Tony Passley was whistled for a technical foul and Dees hit both of the free throws to pull UL within nine points, 37-28. After the inbounds pass Mouton moved around a pair of defenders and hit a running hook shot that trimmed the deficit to 37-30.
Ramar Smith hit the front-end of a two-shot foul with 33 seconds left in the half to provide the halftime margin of 38-30.
The Volunteers hit four of their first five shot attempts to begin the second half and reopened their double digit lead only 2:02 into the half.
Both teams swapped baskets and a Mouton stop-and-pop jumper at the free throw line with 18:42 remaining made it 42-34.
The turnover bug which bit the Cajuns in the first half (14 miscues) played a part in UT pushing the lead back into double figures. Lofton hit a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to up the Vols lead to 45-34.
The Cajuns turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and the Vols set the offense up again to find Lofton open for another triple that increased the advantage to 48-34 just as the clock reached 18 minutes.
Louisiana-Lafayette was able to maintain pace with the Vols as each squad scored 13 points trading baskets until a series by the Cajuns brought the home team back within striking distance.
