University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Denver
UL Completes Comeback, Tops Denver in OT
1/3/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Trailing 62-61 with 18 seconds remaining in the second overtime Lamar Roberson drove into the lane for a running jumper. He missed, but La'Ryan Gary grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. He then made both free throws pulling
The Cajuns defense forced the ball out of Nate Rohnert's hand and Kyle Lewis' heave as the buzzer sounded hit the back of the rim and bounced off.
The win ended a four-game losing streak for the Cajuns. It also completed a comeback from a 15-point first half deficit. UL was down 27-12 in the first half after suffering through a 12-minute scoring drought. The Cajuns ended the final 21 minutes of regulation outscoring the Pioneers (6-8, 1-2 Sun Belt) 39-24 to forge a 51-all tie.
Helping the
Overtime was made possible thanks to Roberson who helped the Cajuns regain the lead after DU went in front 49-48 with 1:00 left in the game. At the top of the key, Roberson blew by his defender off the right side and zipped through the lane for a one-handed slam dunk that gave UL a 50-49 lead.
Rohnert tried a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, but he missed the entire rim. The Cajuns drove up the floor where Roberson was fouled by
Tyren Johnson put the Cajuns in front in the first overtime with a jumper at 2:58 which made it 55-53. He had chance to ice the game and give UL a four-point lead with 1:55 left, but missed both free throws.
It was the second overtime game in 21 meetings between the two schools. The other came on Feb. 11, 2003, when
The Ragin' Cajuns scored the game's first four points and kept the Pioneers away from the hoop in the first 4:04. After DU got on the board with a free throw from Brian Stafford, Chris Gradnigo made a freebie at 16:51 and on the next possession drove baseline for a layup at 16:19 to give UL a 7-1 lead.
The Pioneers closed within three points on their first field goal make which came off the hands of Coughlin at the 15:56 mark. The Cajuns defense continued to keep the Pioneers away from the paint and stretched their lead.
Travis Bureau buried a three-pointer at 14:24 snapping a string of back-to-back scoreless possessions for UL and it was 10-4.
After Barr's make the
Layups from
Louisiana's misfortune continued and the Pioneers extended their scoring run with 14 more unanswered points capped off by a jumper from Stafford which gave DU a 27-12 lead with 3:05 left in the first half.
UL's scoreless streak was 12-minutes old when Bureau halted it with a three-point make on the right wing with 1:00 left in the half. The Cajuns had an answer on their final possession of the half, also. After a free throw miss by Rob Lewis, UL held for the final shot and Daigle fired a bounce pass to Gary on the baseline for a dunk with three seconds left to close the deficit to 10 points at 27-17.
From Barr's layup at 12:37 through the time of Bureau's triple which ended the drought, the Ragin' Cajuns missed 16 consecutive shots and turned the ball over seven times to inflict most of the damage on their own. Denver rebounded from a 2-of-8 (25 percent) start from the field to end the half 8-of-13 (62 percent).
UL dropped the DU lead back into single digits, 29-22, at the 17:15 mark of the second stanza when Roberson dialed home a triple from the top of the key. The Cajuns got a free throw from Gray at 15:26 to move within six points.
Stafford upped his team's lead to 32-23 with a trey at 15:14. The team's then traded two-point baskets ? Gradnigo for UL and Stafford for UD ? and then swapped three-point makes, Bureau for UL at 14:25 and Stafford for DU at 14:08. When it was done 14 points were scored and Pioneers led 37-28.
Daigle sparked the Cajuns inside of 11 minutes. He nailed a three-pointer at 10:49 cut the DU advantage to 38-31. Johnson blocked a three-point attempt by Nate Rohnert and Daigle nabbed the rebound. Johnson was fouled on an offensive rebound putback and made both free throws and it was 38-33 with 9:57 remaining.
Gary drew an offensive charge on Rob Lewis on the ensuing possession and after an offensive rebound Daigle hit a floater in the lane making it 38-35. UL had the opportunity to cut the deficit down to one point, but Johnson was called for an offensive charge. DU scored following Johnson's turnover at 7:50 when Chen hit a jumper moving the lead to 40-35.
Grandigo fed Johnson the ball in the paint at 6:34 for an off-glass jumper that pulled the Cajuns within one point (40-39).
On the ensuing possession, Rohnert drove through traffic for a layup at 5:56. The Cajuns countered with Gradnigo scoring inside off glass at 5:43 and it was 42-41. Louisiana appeared to have a stop as DU recovered a loose ball with four seconds on the shot clock near midcourt, but a desperation three-pointer from Stafford went through the hoop upping DU's edge to 45-41 with 5:01 left to play.
The Ragin' Cajuns take to the road for the first time this season in Sun Belt play. Louisiana travels to New Orleans on Thursday, Jan. 8 to meet the UNO Privateers at 7 p.m., in Lakefront Arena. It's the first meeting between the two schools in Lakefront Arena since the 2004-05 season (arena was closed for renovations the past three seasons following Hurricane Katrina).
