University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Arkansas State
Louisiana Still Alive in SBC West Race
2/19/2010 3:45:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Randell Daigle's free throw with 1:07 remaining gave Louisiana the lead and the Ragin' Cajuns withstood three game-winning shot opportunities by Arkansas State in the final minute for a 56-54 victory Thursday evening at the Cajundome.
The win keeps Louisiana (12-14, 9-6 Sun Belt) undefeated at home in Sun Belt Conference play at 8-0. On Saturday vs. Louisiana-Monroe the Cajuns will attempt to finish undefeated at home in SBC play for just the second time since joining the league in 1991-92 (went 7-0 in 2001-02).
The Cajuns moved within one game of Arkansas State (15-11, 10-5 Sun Belt) in the SBC West Division with three games remaining.
Daigle's freebie put UL up 55-54 then with 16 seconds left Colby Batiste blocked a shot attempt by Trey Finn to preserve the lead. Batiste missed two free throws, but came up with another block on the other end.
Tyren Johnson led the Cajuns with a game-high 15 points, extending his string of double figure games to 15 straight. Daigle joined him in double figures with 10 points, finishing 3-of-5 at the charity stripe.
The Red Wolves received a team-high nine points from Martavius Adams. Adams grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
The telling stat of the contest - Louisiana forced 19 ASU turnovers and held a 21-2 edge in points off turnovers.
The Cajuns came out of the gate slow. UL was 1-of-5 through the first media timeout and trailed 6-2.
A Brandon Reed three-point make at 6:51 moved the Red Wolves' lead into double figures for the first time at 20-9.
An 11-3 Cajuns run over the next four-plus minutes - finished off by layups from Batiste and Travis Bureau - moved the Cajuns within three points by the two-minute mark.
ASU got baskets from Jeremy Thomas and Daniel Bryant on back-to-back possessions to up its lead to 27-20 at the break.
Despite shooting 25 percent (7-of-28) the Cajuns found themselves down only seven at the break. The Cajuns defense limited ASU to 36 percent (11-of-30) in the first half.
Louisiana outscored ASU 8-1 to begin the second stanza and pulled even at 28-all following a triple from Daigle at 16:33. One minute later, Daigle completed a three-point play to give the Cajuns their first lead, 31-30.
The Red Wolves reclaimed the lead on a Reed floater at 15:18 and extended the lead to 37-31 over the following minute of action prompting a UL timeout.
Down 43-39, the Ragin' Cajuns rolled off seven straight points. A triple from Johnson started the run and layups from Daigle and Willie Lago capped it off and gave the hosts a 46-43 advantage with 7:57 remaining.
A triple by Bryant at 7:11 tied the game at 46-all and began a stretch where there were three ties and five lead changes until Daigle's freebie with 1:07 left on the clock.
The Ragin' Cajun will host UL Monroe on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 7:05 p.m., in the final home game of the season. Before the starting lineups are introduced, five seniors - Corey Bloom, Tyren Johnson, Willie Lago, Lamar Roberson and Courtney Wallace - will be honored.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
