MOBILE, Ala. ? For the third time in its last five games, Louisiana relinquished a double-digit first-half lead as the South Alabama Jaguars erased a 13-point deficit to defeat the Ragin' Cajuns 66-60 Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.
The six-point defeat extended Louisiana's (8-11, 4-4 Sun Belt) Sun Belt Conference losing streak to four games. The Cajuns have now lost four of their last five since a 4-0 start to the league slate.
Overshadowed in the loss was the outstanding all-around play of freshman forward Chris Gradnigo (Lake Charles, La.), who entered the game having missed his last 12 three-point attempts and had yet to make a triple in 2008. Gradnigo scored a game-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-3 from three-point land.
Gradnigo was Louisiana's only double-digit scorer. David Dees (Dayton, Ohio) finished with points, while Elijah Millsap (Grambling, La.) chipped in seven.
South Alabama (16-3, 8-0 Sun Belt) had three guys in double figures, including Daon Merritt and Demetric Bennett, who each led South Alabama with 16.
Louisiana scored the first points of the second half on a perfectly-executed back-door cut by Millsap, giving the visitors a 36-27 advantage. After the Cajuns took an 11-point lead, the Jaguars cut it to five, 38-33, with 17:27 remaining in regulation on successive three-point field goals.
La'Ryan Gary (Lafayette, La.) later successfully converted a three-point play for a 41-33 cushion at the 15:42 mark.
An 11-3 South Alabama run allowed the Jaguars to tie the game at 44 all with 11:37 remaining in regulation.
Three minutes later, the Jaguars took their first lead since mid-way through the first half, 50-48, at the 8:18 mark of the second half. Randell Daigle (Lafayette, La.) answered with his signature 23-foot triple from the top of the key, regaining a one-point lead for the Cajuns, 51-50.
USA responded with another run, reeling off eight straight points for a 58-51 lead. The Cajuns would pull to within four, 61-57, following a Gradnigo runner in the lane.
However, a crucial turnover by Corey Bloom (New Orleans, La.) with less than 60 seconds remaining in the game allowed the Jaguars to clinch the win at the free throw line.
South Alabama held an early 8-3 lead at the 15:58 mark of the first half. The game's first four points came at the free throw line as the Jaguars connected on three of its first four attempts, while Louisiana went just 1-of-4.
Once Louisiana equaled the contest at 3-3, South Alabama strung together a 7-0 run to take a 10-3 lead. Brandon Dison (New Orleans, La.) snapped the run with an 18-footer from the top of the key for the Cajuns' first field goal in nearly six minutes.
Trailing 12-5, the Cajuns engineered a quick 6-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 12-11, but a field goal down low by Merritt gave South Alabama a 14-11 lead. A third consecutive basket by Gradnigo again cut the Jaguars lead to one, 14-13. Then, at the 8:04 mark of the first half, Gradnigo drained his fourth straight shot with a triple from left wing, giving Louisiana its first lead of the night, 16-14.
That triple was Gradnigo's first of 2008, snapping a string of 12 straight misses from three-point range.
Following a media timeout, the Cajuns' press-break offense resulted in three straight baskets for a 22-17 lead. Louisiana eventually ran its lead to eight, 25-19, with 5:26 remaining in the first half on a Gradnigo triple from the corner.
In the waning minutes of the first half, the Cajuns continued to apply pressure defensively, while making it count on the offensive end. Several key misses by South Alabama resulted in Louisiana owning a commanding 13-point edge, 34-21.
South Alabama closed the first half with six straight points as the Cajuns took a 34-27 lead into the locker room at the break.
Louisiana shot 46.9 percent from the floor on 15-of-32 shooting in the first half, while holding the Jaguars to just 9-of-21 (42.9 percent). Louisiana's bench out-scored South Alabama's reserves 23-7.
Gradnigo led all scorers with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting at the half, while Dees added six. Dison and Courtney Wallace (New Orleans, La.) each chipped in four. Bennett paced the South Alabama offense with nine points and five rebounds followed by DeAndre Coleman with six and five, respectively.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team returns to action Sunday, January 27, when it travels to Troy, Ala., to face the Troy Trojans at 1 p.m. The men's team will return home on Thursday, January 31, to host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at 7:05 p.m. at the CAJUNDOME.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 60
Gradnigo, Chris 8-12 0-0 19; Dees, David 3-7 2-2 8; Millsap, Elijah 2-5 3-6
7; Dison, Brandon 3-4 0-0 6; Daigle, Randell 1-4 3-3 6; Gary, La'Ryan 2-3
1-1 5; Wallace, Courtney 2-4 0-0 4; Bloom, Corey 1-3 0-0 3; Milson, Abray
1-2 0-0 2; Barksdale, Maurice 0-1 0-0 0; Bureau, Travis 0-3 0-0 0; Johnson,
Tyren 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 9-12 60.
SOUTH ALABAMA 66
Merritt, Daon 4-8 7-10 16; Bennett, Demetric 5-10 5-5 16; Coleman, DeAndre
5-8 4-11 15; Tilford, Domonic 2-5 3-4 9; Davis, Brandon 2-4 2-2 6; Douglas,
Ronald 1-2 0-2 2; Tabet, Philip 1-1 0-0 2; Ford, B.J. 0-1 0-0 0; Hayles,
Daniel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 21-34 66.
Halftime: UL 34, USA 27. 3-point goals--Louisiana-Lafayette 5-18 (Gradnigo, Chris 3-3; Daigle, Randell 1-3; Bloom, Corey 1-3; Barksdale, Maurice 0-1; Bureau, Travis 0-3; Johnson, Tyren 0-2; Millsap, Elijah 0-1; Dees, David 0-2), South Alabama 5-15 (Tilford, Domonic 2-4; Merritt, Daon 1-4; Coleman, DeAndre 1-1; Bennett, Demetric 1-4; Ford, B.J. 0-1; Hayles, Daniel 0-1). A-5832
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