University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
UAB
Cajuns Can't Recover From Early Deficit
1/19/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM,
The Cajuns played without leading scorer Travis Bureau, who is nursing a groin injury, and struggled shooting the ball. UL made only seven shots in the first half, connecting at 25 percent. Meanwhile, UAB shot 66.7 percent (22-of-33) in the opening 20 minutes to take a 31-point lead at the break.
As his father did many nights for the Cajuns, Channing Toney (son of Andrew Toney) was on fire from the floor. Toney hit his first eight shots, scoring 18 points to go with six rebounds.
Six Blazers scored in double figures, led by 21 points from Robert Vaden. Lawrence Kinnard and Cameron Moore each recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.
UL (6-11) was led by 14 points from
With the loss, Louisiana completes non-conference play with a 3-8 mark. UAB collected its fourth straight win over UL and now leads the all-time series 5-1.
Monday night's game marked the first-ever regular season meeting between the two programs in Bartow Arena.
The Blazers (11-7) converted four Cajuns turnovers into eight points in the first three minutes of the game en route to a 13-3 edge.
The Cajuns were looking for offense down 24-14 eight minutes into the contest, as only Johnson and Bloom had made field goals.
As the Cajuns went 7:42 without a field goal, UAB used a 15-1 run to increase its lead to 39-15 with less than five minutes to play in the first half. After a short jumper by Courtney Wallace broke the Cajuns drought, the Blazers scored four straight baskets to build a 30-point lead, 47-17, with 1:09 left in the first half.
UAB did most of its damage in the first half in the paint, scoring 34 points in the lane. The Blazers also capitalized on Cajuns' miscues, scoring 21 points off 11 first half turnovers.
UL tried to make a comeback early in the second half, hitting four straight triples in the first four minutes, but the red-hot Blazers countered with three triples over the same span.
Eventually the UAB lead crept over 40 points, 79-38, midway through the second half.
The Cajuns road trip continues on Thursday at Western Kentucky before returning home to face
