University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Centenary
UL Rally Falls Short and Centenary Escapes
12/29/2009 3:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns played from behind the entire game and despite a late rally, still fell to Centenary 73-68 Monday evening at the Cajundome.
Trailing 63-50 with five minutes left to play, the Cajuns (4-8) reeled off a 13-3 run capped off by a Willie Lago layup with 1:24 remaining that closed the deficit to 66-63.
Louisiana could get only one free throw on the next possession and the Gents (5-7) got layups from Pedro Maciel at 1:04 and David Perez at 0:38 to stretch the lead to 70-64.
The Cajuns received a game-high 23 points from Tyren Johnson - his third straight game at the Cajundome with 20-plus.
Centenary was led by Perez's 22 points. The Gents fired home 12 triples.
The Ragin' Cajuns held a 40-12 advantage in the paint and 16-4 in second chance points, but it was a 36-6 edge from three-point range that lifted the Gents to the victory.
The Gents hit their 10th triple of the night, coming from Daman Starring at 18:53 for a 48-32 edge early in the second half. A series of three inside baskets by Johnson helped the Cajuns get within 10 points, 48-38 by 15:43.
UL made another run as Chris Gradingo poured home the team's next six points. A pair of free throws at 12:05 dropped the Gents' lead to 53-44.
Courtney Wallace scored an inside basket at 8:41 to make it 54-48 - the closest the Cajuns had been since 21-14 at the 10:40 mark of the first half.
Perez carried his team back into a double figure lead. He buried a triple on the right elbow at 7:30 and it was 59-50. Then off of a UL turnover he rolled home a reverse layup at 7:15 for an 11-point lead, 61-50.
It was the first meeting between the two schools since February 2002 and just the second at the Cajundome. The Gents posted their first win at the Cajundome and snapped the Cajuns two-game win streak in the series.
The Gents made triples on their first two possessions and jumped out to a 6-2 lead by the 18:30 mark.
UL got free throw makes from Johnson and then Gradnigo to drop the lead to 6-4. A Jerrald Bonham three-point play at 17:15 upped the Centenary lead to 9-4.
The Cajuns got baskets over the next four minutes, but the Gents reciprocated and the lowest the lead fell to was three points. A Tubner triple at 13:42 increased Centenary's advantage to 16-8.
The Gents eventually moved the lead into double digits when David Swartz knocked down three-pointer deep on the right wing at 9:05. That made it 24-14 and on the next Gents possession, Starring hit a leaner in the lane and completed the three-point play at 8:25.
UL's deficit was the result of shooting 4-of-18 through the seven-minute media timeout. The Gents were 5-of-9 from three-point range by that point in the contest.
Twice over the next four minutes UL used 5-0 runs to slice the deficit down to nine points. However, Centenary would respond with baskets to return the lead to double figures.
It was 35-26 after Raymone Andrews made a freebie at 3:15, but the Gents got three-point makes on back-to-back possessions - one from Starring and one from Leo Davis - to open a 15-point lead, 41-26 with 2:31 left in the opening stanza.
Louisiana returns to Sun Belt Conference play for the remainder of the 2009-10 season. The Cajuns will be in Bowling Green, Ky., on New Year's Eve for a matchup with Western Kentucky at E.A. Diddle Arena. Game time is set for 5 p.m.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
