Cajuns Ease Past Florida Atlantic, 71-52

LAFAYETTE ? A year after a tough three-point loss at Florida Atlantic, Louisiana posted its most dominant performance of the season as the Ragin' Cajuns easily put away the Owls 71-52 Saturday night at the CAJUNDOME.

With the win, Louisiana (5-7, 2-0 Sun Belt) clinched its first 2-0 start to its conference schedule since the 2001-02 season. Florida Atlantic (4-9, 0-2 Sun Belt) has now lost 18 of its last 22 games outside the Sunshine State dating back to the start of the 2006-07 season.

Sophomore Courtney Wallace (New Orleans, La.) led Louisiana with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five rebounds in 23 minutes. Freshman Chris Gradnigo (Lake Charles, La.) tallied double-digits for fourth time in his last five games, chipping in 10 points. Freshman Travis Bureau (Gonzales, La.) added 12 points, while La'Ryan Gary (Lafayette, La.) scored 10.

Tyren Johnson (Edgard, La.) pulled down a game- and career-high eight rebounds. Louisiana improved to 4-0 when having four or more players post double figures. The Cajuns' bench out-scored the Owls 30-11 and has now out-scored the opposition 151-47 in the last five games.

FAU's Carlos Monroe led all scorers with 15 points and six rebounds. Sean Alarcon added 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

The Cajuns' stranglehold on the Owls continued in the second half as Louisiana built its largest lead of the game, 52-23, with 17:24 remaining in regulation. Louisiana's lead remained 20 or more until the game's final minute when Alarcon drained a triple to cut it to the final tally.

Louisiana's successes from across the Pacific Ocean carried over into the CAJUNDOME as the Cajuns quickly opened the game with a six-point cushion, 15-9. Nine of Louisiana's first 15 points came from the once-struggling Elijah Millsap (Grambling, La.), who drained three straight treys for the Cajuns.

From there, the Cajuns' solid shooting continued as the home team held a double-digit lead for the final seven minutes of the first half. After FAU cut the Louisiana lead to three, 15-12, with 10:23 left in the first half, the Cajuns embarked on a 16-5 run to take a 31-17 edge.

During the course of the half's final five minutes, Florida Atlantic wouldn't get any closer than 10 points, 31-21, before Louisiana closed the door on the Owls. The Cajuns used an emphatic 15-2 run during the last 4:51 to enter the locker room with a 46-23 lead ? Louisiana's largest halftime lead at any point this season.

For the second straight contest, Louisiana shot better than 50 percent from the field in the first half as the Cajuns nailed 58.1 percent of their shots (18-of-31). The Cajuns also continued their highly impressive long-distance shooting, going 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from three-point range.

Gradnigo and Monroe led all scorers with 10 points with the Louisiana rookie hitting two key three-point buckets. Millsap added nine points ? all from three-point range ? while Wallace chipped in eight.

The Cajuns held Florida Atlantic to 35 percent shooting from the field as the Owls went just 7-of-20 and 1-of-7 from three-point range.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns continue their three-game Sun Belt Conference homestand when they welcome the Arkansas State Indians to the CAJUNDOME on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.

FLORIDA ATLANTIC 52

Monroe, Carlos 5-9 5-8 15; Alarcon, Sean 5-5 0-0 13; Parmer, Jeff 1-4 4-7 6;

Perkins, Xavier 1-4 3-4 5; Royster, Brett 2-6 0-0 4; Nwoji, Carderro 2-8 0-0

4; Hernandez, Sammy 1-4 1-3 3; Hughley, Sanchez 0-1 2-2 2; Rodriguez,

Enrique 0-0 0-0 0; Simmons, Derrick 0-1 0-0 0; Owens, Jamal 0-0 0-2 0.

Totals 17-42 15-26 52.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 71

Wallace, Courtney 5-6 3-5 13; Bureau, Travis 4-8 3-4 12; Gary, La'Ryan 3-7

4-4 10; Gradnigo, Chris 3-8 2-2 10; Millsap, Elijah 3-7 0-0 9; Daigle,

Randell 3-8 0-0 9; Johnson, Tyren 2-4 0-0 4; Milson, Abray 1-1 1-2 3;

Barksdale, Maurice 0-0 1-2 1; Dison, Brandon 0-0 0-0 0; Bloom, Corey 0-3 0-0

0; Lago, Willie 0-0 0-0 0; Dees, David 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 14-19 71.

Halftime: UL 46, FAU 23. 3-point goals--Florida Atlantic 3-12 (Alarcon, Sean 3-3; Parmer, Jeff 0-1; Perkins, Xavier 0-1; Nwoji, Carderro 0-3; Hernandez, Sammy 0-2; Hughley, Sanchez 0-1; Simmons, Derrick 0-1), Louisiana-Lafayette 9-25 (Daigle, Randell 3-6; Millsap, Elijah 3-4; Gradnigo, Chris 2-5; Bureau, Travis 1-4; Bloom, Corey 0-3; Johnson, Tyren 0-2; Gary, La'Ryan 0-1). A-3265

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Cajuns Ease Past Florida Atlantic, 71-52

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