University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Florida Atlantic
Cold Shooting Sinks Cajuns at FAU
1/31/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BOCA RATON, Fla. ? Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns have not been welcome guests in their last four road games and Saturday night was no exception. The Cajuns trailed the entire evening, losing 63-47 at Florida Atlantic.
Louisiana (7-14, 4-6 Sun Belt) has held a lead for just 70 seconds in the past four road games combined. The Cajuns led 3-2 at UAB for less than one minute and held a 6-5 edge at
FAU (5-18, 1-10 Sun Belt) won their first Sun Belt game of the season.
UL was not helped by the whistle in the second half, committing 12 fouls in the first 15 minutes which sent the Owls to the free throw line 14 times over that span. The Owls were called for 14 fouls the entire game.
FAU started the second half with six straight points to increase its halftime lead to 11 points. Ryan McCoy's short jumper at 16:59 put the Cajuns on the board in the second half.
From there, FAU used a 15-3 run to extend its lead to 46-27 with 9:59 left in the game.
The Cajuns tried to use the three-point shot to get back into the game, but the shots wouldn't fall no matter who took them and how open they were.
UL finished the game 2-for-38 from behind the arc. The Cajuns made 18 field goals to 17 by FAU. The Owls made 25-of-32 from the free throw line, while the Cajuns managed 9-of-13 from the stripe.
Lamar Roberson led the Cajuns with eight points. Gradnigo and La'Ryan Gary each scored seven points. Travis Bureau led all players and tied a career high with seven rebounds.
Paul Graham III led the Owls with 18 points. Brett Royster added 14 points.
As was the case in the women's game played at the top of the doubleheader, scoring was tough to come by in the first half. UL was 0-for-12 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.
The Cajuns fell into a 10-3 hole in the opening minutes of the game. Head coach Robert Lee replaced his five starters at the first media timeout.The Cajuns second group cut the FAU lead down to 16-12 at the second media timeout.
UL's first five returned to hold the Owls scoreless for the next four minutes, but scored just four points over the same span to pull the visitors within two points, 18-16, with 9:31 remaining.
That's as close as the Cajuns would get, scoring only four points the rest of the half. Good defense held the Owls in check and UL trailed just 25-20 at the break.
Louisiana returns home to face FIU on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7:05 p.m., in the CAJUNDOME. It's the final game of a five-game stretch against the SBC East Division.
