TROY, Ala. ? After a difficult loss at South Alabama earlier in the week, Louisiana snapped its four-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak in convincing fashion as the Ragin' Cajuns easily defeated the Troy Trojans 87-66 Sunday afternoon at the Trojan Arena.
A season-high-tying four Ragin' Cajuns (9-11, 5-4 Sun Belt) scored in double figures. Sophomore Elijah Millap (Grambling, La.) led the way with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Travis Bureau (Gonzales, La.) added a career-high 16 points, while La'Ryan Gary (Lafayette, La.) chipped in 15. Chris Gradnigo (Lake Charles, La.) scored 10 first-half points, but was held scoreless in the second stanza.
More importantly, for the first time this season, the Cajuns finished the game shooting better than 50 percent as a team. Louisiana shot 51.5 percent from the floor, while holding Troy to just 35.7 percent.
The 21-point defeat for Troy (9-11, 2-7 Sun Belt) was the Trojans' largest home loss this season and the first 20-point home loss since Jan. 2, 1999 (Samford defeated then-Troy State 105-75). Justin Jonus paced the Trojans offensively with a team-high 15. Brandon Hazzard and Jarvis Acker each added 12 points.
After Troy closed the gap to one before the half, Louisiana quickly silenced the Trojan Arena crowd as the Cajuns opened the second period on a 15-5 run. The burst gave the Cajuns a commanding 56-45 lead with 15:18 remaining in regulation. It marked the seventh time in nine Sun Belt contests that Louisiana has led by 10 or more points this season.
Six straight points by Millsap gave the Cajuns a 13-point lead, 60-47. Baskets by Acker and Mario Telfair trimmed the deficit to eight points, 60-52, before the Cajuns' lead returned to double digits.
A tough inside lay-in from Courtney Wallace (New Orleans, La.) extended the Louisiana advantage to 14 points, 69-55, with less than eight minutes to play.
The Cajuns salted the victory away late in the second half as the visitors held an insurmountable 77-61 lead at the 3:59 mark. The dagger that dashed Troy's hopes of a possible upset was the emphatic dunk by Tyren Johnson (Edgard, La.) following a Gary miss. The Cajuns closed the game on a 10-4 run to seal the win.
Louisiana played Troy tough early on in the first half as the Cajuns clung to a 12-11 lead at the 14:44 mark. The Cajuns had a sluggish start to the contest as Louisiana missed two open looks from the floor before Jonus drilled a triple in transition for a 3-0 Troy lead. That 40-second span prompted head coach Robert Lee to call a 30-second timeout.
Once the Cajuns gained their first lead of the game on a Brandon Dison (New Orleans, La.) jumper, Louisiana appeared to be in control, leading Troy by as many as four, 15-11. However, a 7-2 run by the Trojans coupled by poor passes by the Cajuns resulted in an 18-17 Troy lead with 11:09 remaining in the first half.
Troy's lead would grow to as many as four points, 23-19, on a Hazzard triple, but Louisiana answered with an 11-0 run for a 30-23 edge.
The Cajuns later held an eight-point cushion, 36-28, after a Gradnigo runner in the lane, but Troy would provide an answer each time down the court. Troy cut the Cajuns' lead to four points on three separate occasions until Jerome Odem drained a three as time expired for a 41-40 Cajuns lead at the break.
Gradnigo paced the Cajuns with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, while Gary added eight points. Millsap chipped in eight points and a team-high five boards.
As a team, Louisiana shot 47.2 percent from the field on 17-of-36 shooting. The Cajuns weren't very accurate from three-point range in the first half as Louisiana connected on only 4-of-15 shooting.
Jonus led all scorers with 11 points, while Hazzard and Acker added 10 and nine, respectively. Despite shooting just 34.3 percent (12-of-35) from the floor in the first half, the Trojans delivered seven triples on 14 attempts to help the home team keep pace with the Cajuns.
Louisiana's men's basketball team will return to the hardwood Thursday, Jan. 31, when the Ragin' Cajuns host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at the CAJUNDOME. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 87
Millsap, Elijah 8-13 3-4 21; Bureau, Travis 7-13 0-0 16; Gary, La'Ryan 6-10
3-3 15; Gradnigo, Chris 4-4 1-2 10; Daigle, Randell 3-6 0-0 8; Wallace,
Courtney 3-6 1-2 7; Johnson, Tyren 2-2 0-0 4; Dison, Brandon 2-4 0-0 4;
Dees, David 0-6 2-2 2; Dees, Stephen 0-0 0-0 0; Lago, Willie 0-1 0-0 0;
Bloom, Corey 0-0 0-0 0; Milson, Abray 0-1 0-0 0; Barksdale, Maurice 0-2 0-0
Totals 35-68 10-13 87.
TROY TROJANS 66
Jonus, Justin 3-6 7-9 15; Acker, Jarvis 5-10 0-0 12; Hazzard, Brandon 4-9
2-2 12; Bassett, O'Darien 2-10 4-4 9; Telfair, Mario 4-6 1-2 9; Odem, Jerome
2-5 0-0 6; Vogler, Michael 0-3 2-2 2; Macon, Trayce 0-2 1-4 1; Toombs,
Bernard 0-0 0-0 0; Ware, Kenny 0-2 0-0 0; Williams, Josh 0-1 0-0 0; Jervis,
Tom 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 17-23 66.
Halftime: UL 41, Troy 40. 3-point goals--Louisiana-Lafayette 7-25 (Daigle, Randell 2-5; Bureau, Travis 2-8; Millsap, Elijah 2-5; Gradnigo, Chris 1-1; Dees, David 0-5; Barksdale, Maurice 0-1), Troy Trojans 9-22 (Hazzard, Brandon 2-4; Odem, Jerome 2-3; Acker, Jarvis 2-3; Jonus, Justin 2-4; Bassett, O'Darien 1-6; Macon, Trayce 0-1; Vogler, Michael 0-1). A-2156
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