University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
New Orleans
Gradnigo's 25 Leads Cajuns to 72-70 Win
2/20/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns held a 16-point lead with 5:34 remaining, but had to hang on for a two-point victory at New Orleans on Wednesday night. Louisiana (13-13, 9-6) survived by a final score of 72-70, despite missing six of nine free throw attempts in the final two minutes.
The loss drops New Orleans (17-10, 7-8) into third place, two games behind the first place Cajuns. UL will finish the season with three home games ? one against each of the three teams tied for second place in the Sun Belt West.
Elijah Millsap made a pair from the stripe to stop New Orleans' 13-0 run and end a Cajuns scoreless streak that spanned 3:20. The free throws gave the Cajuns a five-point lead with 2:14 remaining. Two minutes later, Millsap's offensive rebound put the sophomore at the line, where he would make both shots, giving the Cajuns a 72-68 edge with 13.8 seconds remaining.Bo McCalebb scored five seconds later to make it a two-point game with 7.8 seconds remaining. After the Cajuns came up empty on two free throws, UNO missed a lay-up at the buzzer that would have tied the game.
Chris Gradnigo led the Cajuns with a career-high 25 points. Millsap had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Tyren Johnson, who swatted the ball away from the rim at the buzzer, finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
After being held scoreless in the first half, McCalebb scored nine points in the first 4:11 of the second half to help UNO cut their deficit to 11 points.
Millsap took over the next minute of the game. His offensive rebound and put-back preceded a block of McCalebb on the defensive end. Millsap then converted a running jumper in the lane to swing momentum toward the Cajuns. Gradnigo blocked a shot which resulted in a Courtney Wallace bucket on the other end, giving the Cajuns a 51-34 lead with 14:09 remaining.
After a Privateers basket, Gradnigo buried a three-point basket to give the visitors an 18-point lead with 13:10 to play.
The Cajuns then began to slow down the pace of the game. UNO couldn't get any closer than 16 points over the next five minutes ? giving the Cajuns a nice lead with under eight minutes to play. A triple by James Parlow cut the UL edge to 13 points, 67-54, with 5:23 remaining and ignited a 13-0 run. The Privateers were within just three points with 2:30 on the clock.
McCalebb finished with 18 points ? five below his season average ? and a team-high seven rebounds. Kyndall Dykes added 14 points.
The Cajuns held a 41-25 lead at the break thanks to excellent defense. UNO shot just 22.2 percent in the first half as McCalebb missed all eight shot attempts and a free throw.
UNO missed its first eight shots, but the Cajuns couldn't take more than a 5-0 lead thanks to three early turnovers.
The Cajuns scored eight points on three straight possession to build a 15-4 lead. Triples by Randell Daigle and Gradnigo and a dunk by Travis Bureau resulted in the scoring.
UL increased its lead as the Privateers continued to struggle. UNO started 2-for-23 from the floor, helping the Cajuns to a 28-9 edge with 6:46 to play in the first half.
Once the Privateers found their shot, Louisiana had an answer nearly every time. Gradnigo had 18 first half points to carry the Cajuns offense to a 16-point lead after 20 minutes.
Louisiana returns to the hardwood Saturday when the Ragin' Cajuns host the UALR Trojans in a critical Sun Belt West Division rematch from January's meeting in Little Rock. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. at the CAJUNDOME.LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 72
Gradnigo, Chris 9-14 4-4 25; Millsap, Elijah 4-11 4-8 12; Daigle, Randell
3-7 0-2 9; Gary, La'Ryan 3-8 2-2 8; Johnson, Tyren 3-6 1-1 7; Wallace,
Courtney 1-4 2-7 4; Dison, Brandon 1-2 0-0 2; Barksdale, Maurice 0-1 2-5 2;
Milson, Abray 1-1 0-0 2; Lago, Willie 0-2 1-2 1; Bloom, Corey 0-0 0-0 0;
Bureau, Travis 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 16-31 72.
NEW ORLEANS 70
McCalebb, Bo 7-20 3-4 18; Dykes, Kyndall 6-17 2-5 14; Parlow, James 2-6 4-4
9; Reynolds, Shaun 1-5 7-9 9; Worley, T.J. 3-5 0-1 7; Tyrna, Jaroslav 2-7
1-4 5; Myers, Kechan 1-5 2-2 4; Elias, Ben 1-5 1-2 3; Manning, Jacob 0-2 1-2
1; Souleymane, Asrangue 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-73 21-33 70.
Halftime: UL 41, UNO 25. 3-point goals--Louisiana-Lafayette 6-17 (Gradnigo, Chris 3-6;
Daigle, Randell 3-5; Johnson, Tyren 0-1; Barksdale, Maurice 0-1; Bureau, Travis 0-2;
Millsap, Elijah 0-2), New Orleans 3-11 (Parlow, James 1-3; Worley, T.J. 1-3;
McCalebb, Bo 1-2; Reynolds, Shaun 0-3). A-1104
