University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
New Orleans
UNO Rallies to Steal Win from Cajuns
1/8/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS ? Travis Bureau, Ryan McCoy and then Randell Daigle each played key parts in the second half to put Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns in position for their first road victory of the season, but New Orleans reeled off a 15-2 run late in the second half to come from behind and post a 61-58 victory.
The UNO run helped the hosts rally from a 51-43 deficit and take a 58-53 lead just under one minute remaining. The Ragin' Cajuns moved within two points, 58-56, on a Bureau three-point make with 29 seconds left to play.
UNO made only one free throw on the ensuing possession and it was still a one-possession game. McCoy drove through the lane and made a basket as he was fouled. He would miss the free throw, however, and the Privateers grabbed the defensive rebound.
The loss keeps Louisiana (5-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) winless on the road this season (0-5). UNO (7-8, 3-2 Sun Belt) snapped a three-game losing streak to the Cajuns and won for just the second time in the last 10 meetings.
Chris Gradnigo led Louisiana with 14 points. Bureau and Daigle scored 12 apiece and McCoy added 11 to give UL four players in double figures.
The Privateers received a game-high 20 points from Kyndall Dykes. UNO thrived from the charity stripe making 26-of-37 attempts and outscoring the Cajuns (4-of-7) by 22 points from there.
Trailing 30-26 with 16:57 in the second half, Bureau scored five points by himself by the 15:46 mark to pull Louisiana within one at 32-31.
Then beginning at the 11:44 mark McCoy and Daigle combined to score the Ragin' Cajuns' next 17 points which erased a 37-36 UNO lead.
McCoy returned the lead to the Cajuns with a triple out on the left wing. On the Cajuns' next possession the ball was swung around to Daigle on the opposite wing for another trey. The Privateers crawled within three points with two free throws from Dykes at 10:27. Daigle answered with another three-point make at 9:58 to push the lead to 45-39.
The next two times the Privateers moved within four points it was McCoy who lifted the Cajuns back into a six-point lead. Then at 6:35 Daigle moved UL up by eight points, 51-43, with a jumper.
Louisiana would then get only one field goal make until the Bureau three-pointer with 29 seconds reamining and the Privateers slowly chipped away with their game-rallying run which helped the hosts escape with victory.
T.J. Worley scored a layup with 3:15 remaining to give the Privateers a 54-53 lead. Dykes sccored UNO's next four points to extend the lead to 58-53 just inside of one minute.
UL had its opportunity when McCoy hit the layup with 10 seconds remaining and was fouled. But, Charles Carmouche secured the defensive rebound after the missed freebie and the Privateers finished off the game with their 20th and 21st free throw makes of the second stanza.
Louisiana took a few minutes to get on track and when it happened it was Gradnigo providing the offense. He scored on a home run pass off an inbounds pass from Daigle at 17:44 to pull the Cajuns even at 2-all. Then on back-to-back possessions he drained three-pointers to give UL its first lead.
The Cajuns started with a zone defense which held UNO without a field goal make through the 14:15 mark. Worley scored UNO's first field goal at that point which cut the UL lead to 8-4.
UNO pulled within two at 13:44 when Jaroslav Tyrna scored inside, then Louisiana scored on three straight possessions to extend the lead back to six points before the 12-minute mark.
The Privateers outscored the Cajuns 7-2 from 11:55 through 8:07 and the visitors lead was cut to 17-15.
Defense took over for both teams as each held the other off the scoreboard. An inside basket from Emmanuel Adeife came at 6:47 and gave the Cajuns a 19-15 edge. That would be the final points for either side until a UNO free throw at 3:10.
Louisiana pushed the lead to five points on the fifth putback attempt of a possession inside of two minutes. After several scrambles Johnson tapped home a missed shot at 1:36 and it was 21-16.
UNO scored four points in the final minutes to trim its deficit to one point going into the locker room.
Defense stole the show in the opening stanza and the shooting numbers told the story. Both teams shot below 30 percent and were a combined 16-of-60 from the field (26.7 percent). The Cajuns were 9-of-35 (25.7 percent) while UNO turned in a 7-of-25 showing (28.0 percent).
The Ragin' Cajuns started the second half with points on consecutive possessions. A three-pointer by Bureau at the top of the key came at 19:45 and Gradnigo, who returned after missing time following a blow to the head, scored inside at 19:11 upping UL's advantage to 26-21.
The Privateers then outscored the Cajuns 9-0 over the next two minutes to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the contest.
Bureau scored Louisiana's next five points by the 15:46 mark and the UNO lead was down to 32-31. Bureau tied the game one minute later with a free throw that made it 34-all. The game remained tied until Daigle worked up the lane for a running layup at 12:52 to put Louisiana in the lead once again.
Dykes stopped in the lane and put home a jumper at 12:07 to return the lead to UNO at 37-36 just before the 11-minute media timeout. McCoy and Daigle then teamed together from three-point land to lift the Cajuns back into the lead until UNO's late heroics.
Louisiana continues its first Sun Belt road trip of the season when the squad leaves New Orleans on Friday to travel to Troy, Ala. There, the Cajuns will face Troy's Trojans at 7:30 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 10 at Trojan Arena.
