University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Little Rock
UL Overtaken by UALR in Final 15 Minutes
1/15/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LAFAYETTE ? UALR outscored
The Trojans (12-5, 5-1 Sun Belt) scored the first 10 points of the overtime to break a 61-all tie, complete the comeback and pick up their fourth straight victory in the series.
The Ragin' Cajuns (6-10, 3-3 Sun Belt) were sitting on a 50-35 lead with 15:24 remaining in regulation when UALR made the rally that forced overtime.
Chris Gradnigo led all the Cajuns and all scorers with 20 points as he set his season-high for the second straight game and third time in the past five outings. Gradnigo had 16 points in the opening stanza.
Guards Randell Daigle and Ryan McCoy added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for
UALR was pace by the trio of John Fowler (team-high 18 points), Shane Edwards (17 points) and Steven Moore (16 points). The Trojans shot at a 66.7 percent clip in the second half to erase an eight-point halftime deficit (37-29).
With the loss,
The Trojans grabbed a quick 4-0 lead in the first 48 seconds then
Both squads swapped field goals until a goaltend call on Colby Batiste on a Brandon Patterson attempt at 13:04 gave UALR a 12-11 advantage. The teams continued to trade scores over the next two minutes and the Trojans pulled into a 16-all tie at 11:00 on a Patterson layup.
Ryan McCoy converted two freebies at 10:44 to pull the Cajuns out of the tie, then Patterson missed a three-point attempt on UALR's possession. Gradnigo extended the UL lead to four points when he dialed home a long-range jumper at 10:16 for a 20-16 edge.
La'Ryan Gary then stole the ball on a turnover by Moore and at the 9:37 mark Gradnigo pushed UL into a seven-point lead with a three-point make. UALR ended the Cajuns' run with a basket by Fowler at 9:26 and dropped the deficit down to five points. Each team scored five points over the next five minutes.
The Ragin' Cajuns eventually received the double figure lead with a 7-0 run after UALR cut the lead to 30-25 on a
After a turnover by Curtis Jackson,
The tide appeared to turn in the Cajuns' favor after Daigle's triple. McCoy collected a steal and UL pushed the ball up the court to Bureau who drove baseline for a crowd energizing dunk at 16:26. It was Bureau again off a long pass from Daigle off a defensive rebound for a driving layup at 16:08 which increased the lead to 47-33.
Right out of the 15-minute media timeout, Daigle drained his third triple in a two-minute span upping the advantage to a game-high 15 points, 50-35.
Bureau made a trey at 10:27 and the Cajuns lead was upped to 55-42. UALR responded with six unanswered points, capped off by an inside basket from Edwards at 8:45 which dropped the UL lead to 55-48.
McCoy snapped the Cajuns scoring drought with a three-point make with 6:45 remaining which made it 58-48.
UALR rattled off a 9-0 run by the 3:17 mark to creep within one point, 58-57. The Cajuns were misfiring their field goal attempts and used defense to keep the Trojans from pulling ahead. That was until Mouzy picked off a Daigle pass at the 1:50 mark and converted a layup on the other end.
McCoy drew a foul on a jumper with four seconds on the clock to give the Cajuns a chance to win in regulation. He missed the first freebie, then made the second to pull the Cajuns into a 61-all tie and force overtime.
