University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Arkansas State
Cajuns Upstaged By Arkansas State in Second Half
12/17/2006 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LAFAYETTE - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team fell victim to a 14-0 Arkansas State run to start the second half and dropped its second straight Sun Belt Conference game losing 73-63 here Sunday afternoon at the Cajundome.
The ASU run helped the Indians (7-7, 2-0 Sun Belt) erase a 35-28 halftime deficit within the first four minutes of the second stanza. The visitors never trailed the rest of the game.
The loss was the third straight overall for Louisiana-Lafayette (2-8, 0-2 Sun Belt) who now take a break from Sun Belt action for a pair of non-conference games next week.
The ASU win snapped a string of four straight wins by the home team in the series between the two conference rivals. The Indians became the first road team to win in the series since Feb. 3, 2001, when ASU won 82-80 in the Cajundome.
The Cajuns were led by the tandem of David Dees and Ross Mouton who each scored 14 points.
The Indians had four players reach double figures led by a game-high 18 points from Isaac Wells.
ASU shot 53.8 percent in the decisive second half hitting 14-of-26 shots. The Cajuns percentage fell to 30.6 percent as UL struggled and shot 11-of-36.
The Cajuns took a couple of minutes to get on track. ASU scored the game's first three points and held a 3-0 lead until the 17:31 mark.
Derek Gray scored UL's first points at the 17:31 mark when he grabbed the loose ball on the Cajuns third attempt at a basket and converted the layup.
Back-to-back defensive stops resulted in baskets from Mouton and then Dees that upped the Cajuns lead to 6-3 with 16:28 left in the first half.
The Indians responded with an inside basket from Abayomi Ajasin at 16:14 and took the lead after a Cajuns turnover on the inbounds pass following the first media timeout. Shawn Morgan grabbed the loose ball on the inbounds and raced in for a fastbreak layup that put ASU in front 7-6.
Dees was fouled by Morgan on the ensuing possession as he was firing off a three-pointer at 15:21. Dees made all three freebies to give UL a 9-7 lead.
The Ragin' Cajuns held onto the lead as the two squads traded baskets over the next two minutes.
UL broke a 13-all tie at 12:46 with a free throw from Valentino Hart. The next two ASU possessions saw three-pointers from Ryan Wedel and Adrian Banks that gave the visitors their largest lead at 19-14 with 11:53 remaining in the half.
The Cajuns didn't let the Indians stretch the lead any further as the squad scored five points over a 17-second span. It began with a three-pointer from Mouton at 11:40 closing the deficit to two points. After an ASU miss on the other end the Cajuns found Hart in transition in the paint for a hook shot that evened the score at 19-all.
UL and ASU traded baskets in the 10-minute mark. A Wells dunk after the media timeout put ASU up 21-19. A pair of free throws from Adam James at 10:07 drew a 21-21 tie.
The Cajuns eventually regained the lead at the 8:48 mark when Tyren Johnson buried a three-pointer in the left corner that put UL on top 25-22.
The scoring spree slowed down after Johnson's basket. The two teams missed several baskets over the next five minutes. The only field goals until the 3:37 mark were inside baskets from UL's Courtney Wallace and Ajasin.
The Cajuns lead was 27-26 after Ajasin's bucket at 5:11. A free throw from Millsap at 4:01 made it 28-26.
The Indians forced the eighth tie at the 2:54 mark when Wells made a layup that tied the score 28-28. The Cajuns went back in front at 2:36 when Abray Milson scored inside.
The Cajuns defense clamped down forcing ASU to go without a field goal made in the final 2:30 holding the Indians to three field goal attempts and two turnovers.
UL got three free throws and a bank shot off the backboard by Mouton with 29 seconds remaining to lay claim to a 35-28 lead at halftime.
The Cajuns missed their first two shot attempts of the second half and turned the ball over twice allowing the Indians to score five unanswered points to trim the lead to 35-33 by the 18-minute mark.
After a timeout the Cajuns missed two more shots and ASU continued to take advantage.
Wells converted a turnaround hook shot at 17:31 to tie the game at 35-all. After a pair of Dees misses in the paint the Indians worked their way back to their end of the floor for a Wedel triple at 16:58 that gave ASU its first lead of the second half at 38-35.
The Cajuns lost control of the ball at midcourt on the ensuing possession. The Indians would get another three-pointer from Wedel. He was fouled by Willie Lago and made the free throw to complete a four-point play that increased the Indians lead to 42-35 with 16:24 left in the game.
UL ended its scoring drought when Millsap scored inside at 16:05 to cut the deficit to 42-37. When Mouton connected on a three-pointer on the left wing at 15:12 the Cajuns clawed back within striking distance at 42-40.
ASU then turned to its transition game which resulted in three straight baskets all at least two feet of the basket to rebuild their lead to 48-40 with 13:56 on the clock.
The Ragin' Cajuns battled back using an 8-2 run over the next 3:25 to close the gap to 50-48.
The Cajuns trailed 55-48 at the seven-minute mark before back-to-back baskets drew the game closer. Dees worked his way on the baseline for a second-chance basket at 6:40 to make it 55-50. On the ensuing possession, Lago read an ASU pass perfectly and picked off Wedel at the top of the key. He ran it back for a layup that trimmed the ASU lead to 55-52 at 5:58.
Wedel's third triple of the second stanza came on the next possession at 5:32 and rebuilt the ASU lead to six points at 58-52.
The Indians lead grew to 10 points off the hands of Morgan. He made two free throws at the 4:03 mark to make it 60-52. Morgan was the catalyst nearly one minute later when he muscled his way on the baseline for a putback basket at 3:05 upping the advantage to 62-52.
The Cajuns got four points from Millsap in the two-minute mark capped off by a slam dunk at 2:09 that cut the deficit to 62-56.
The Indians threw a homerun pass that found Morgan deep in their territory. He drew a foul on a layup attempt and knocked down two charities upping the score to 64-56. ASU forced a steal on the ensuing possession and the long outlet pass found Wells wide open for a fastbreak dunk after the turnover which returned the lead back to double digits.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 20 when they meet Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif., to complete a non-conference home-and-home series with CSF. The game will begin at 9:05 p.m. (CST).
