Men Fall To Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ? Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns were within six points midway through the second half before Senario Hillman took control for Alabama here Sunday afternoon at Coleman Coliseum in a 61-44 Crimson Tide victory.

Hillman scored six of Alabama's eight points during an 8-0 run which changed a 44-38 lead with 10 minutes remaining into a 52-38 advantage with 8:10 left to play.

Hillman knocked down a fadeaway jumper at 9:49 upping the lead to 46-38. Ryan McCoy missed a basket on the ensuing possession and Hillman hit a hook shot at 9:15 pushing the margin into double figures at 48-38.

After a pair of missed field goals for the Ragin' Cajuns (2-4), Hillman made a jumper at the 8:10 mark ? his third field goal of the scoring spree ? to finish off the run and make it 52-38.

UL would get a pair of free throws from Chris Gradnigo at 7:59 to break the run, but wouldn't score again until he made two more freebies with 1:29 left to play. By that point, the Tide (5-2) had reeled of seven unanswered and were up 59-40.

Travis Bureau led Louisiana with 16 points. He made three 3-pointers, continuing a streak of him making at least three in every game this season.

Louisiana struggled shooting from the floor and at the free throw line. UL was 14-of-55 (25.5%) on field goal attempts and was 11-of-23 (47.8%) from the charity stripe.

The Crimson Tide was led by 18 points apiece from Hillman and Alonzo Gee. Hillman scored 16 of his point total in the second stanza.
The loss snapped a two-game win streak for Louisiana. It was the first meeting between the Ragin' Cajuns and Crimson Tide since December 1962 and first meeting in Coleman Coliseum.

The Cajuns missed their first six field goal attempts and the Crimson Tide scored the game's first eight points. A three-pointer by Ronald Steele at 18:09 and a three-point play by Gee at 16:32 provided six of the Tide's points in the opening 8-0 run.

Bureau drew a foul at 16:02 and made a free throw to put Louisiana on the scoreboard. Following the 15-minute media timeout, Gee drew a foul on a layup at 15:03 and completed the Tide's second three-point play to up the lead to 11-1.

Gradnigo made UL's first field goal at 13:42 when he drained a trey on the elbow of the right wing and it was 11-4. Grandigo was good from the same spot just before the clock hit 12:00, giving him six of UL's first seven points. Gradnigo's second triple sliced the Bama lead to six points (13-7).

La'Ryan Gary made UL's first two-point field goal at 10:31 cutting the deficit to 15-9. A jumper by Brandon Dison on the Cajuns' next possession drew the visitors within four points at the 9:58 mark. Steele made a basket at 9:13 to re-up the Tide's lead to six points.
Louisiana would hold UA off the board through the 6:52 mark and moved within three points, 17-14, when Bureau made a free throw at 7:32.

Steele ended the Tide's scoring drought with a three-point make on the left wing at 6:52 and it was 20-14. The Crimson Tide added four more points in the five minute mark to extend the lead to 10 points for the second time in the opening stanza.

The Cajuns were inflicting damage to themselves after drawing within three. During the Tide's 7-0 run, Louisiana committed three turnovers.

Down 24-14, the Ragin' Cajuns got baskets from Bureau and Colby Batiste during the four-minute mark closing the deficit to 24-18.
Bureau heated up from three-point range in the final three minutes of the half. His first came at 3:01 making it 26-21. After a missed jumper by Gee, it was McCoy running through the lane as the shot clock neared zero for a layup that pulled the Cajuns within three points at 2:01.

Bureau's second trey came at 1:08 and cut the Bama lead to 28-26. It would have been tied had Yamene Coleman not made an inside basket at 1:31.

Steele missed a jumper and the ball landed out-of-bounds and UL had possession with a chance to possibly tie the game. However, a turnover by Willie Lago gave the Tide the ball back and Steele drew a foul with three seconds left and made two free throws setting up the halftime score of 30-26 in favor of the hosts.

Neither team got any production in the first two-plus minutes of the second half. JaMychal Green slammed home a miss by Coleman at 17:16 increasing the lead to 32-26.

Gary made Louisiana's first field goal of the second stanza at 16:11 as he cut through the lane for a layup making it 34-29. Gee hit a leaner off the backboard at 15:59 and two free throws from Hillman at 15:26 allowed Alabama to open a nine-point edge.

After a Johnson free throw put Louisiana into 30 on the scoreboard, Hillman turned the ball over and Bureau connected on a three-point attempt to trim the Crimson Tide lead to 38-33 with 14:45 remaining. McCoy went coast-to-coast after a missed three-pointer by Andrew Steele for a layup which trimmed the UA lead to 39-35.

Hillman scored a running layup for the Tide at 11:25 and the lead was 41-35. McCoy drew a shooting foul on the next possession with a chance to get back within four points. However, a technical foul was assessed to UL's Colby Batiste and Ronald Steele made two freebies to extend the lead to 43-35 ? a four-point swing.

McCoy made his free throws at the 10:57 mark the deficit was six points, 43-37. Both teams swapped free throw makes ? Coleman for Alabama and Bureau for Louisiana ? and it remained a six-point UA lead as the second half near the midway point.

That's when Hillman took charge and guided Alabama on an 8-0 run which opened a 14-point cushion before the clock hit eight minutes left to play.

With Fall 2008 semester final exams scheduled this week, Louisiana won't take the court again until Saturday, Dec. 13. The Ragin' Cajuns will host Louisiana College at 7:05 p.m., that day in the CAJUNDOME, opening a four-game homestand that runs through Sunday, Dec. 21.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

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