Cajuns Move Back Over .500, Pick Up Road Win in Monroe

Box Score

The Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team used a 13-0 run in the second half to shake off a pesky La.-Monroe squad Saturday afternoon at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe on the way to a 67-60 victory that keeps the squad within striking distance for the Sun Belt West division lead.

The victory assures Louisiana (12-11, 6-3 Sun Belt) that they will be one game behind winner of the UALR-Denver contest later Saturday evening. Denver visits the Cajundome on Thursday for a 7:05 p.m. contest.

Fred Brown drew La.-Monroe (2-20, 1-8 Sun Belt) within a point, 36-35, with a jumper at 13:45. UL was able to create breathing room before the 13-minute mark expired as Raymone Andrews answered with a triple in the left corner and Josh Brown collected a steal and hit a running jumper off glass to stretch the lead to 41-35.

The Cajuns continued to pull away as J.J. Thomas forged his way into the lane for a layup at 11:49 upping the lead to 43-35 prior to the 11-minute media timeout.

Out of the timeout Louisiana received field goal makes on three consecutive possessions from Elfrid Payton, Brown and Darshawn McClellan to extend the margin to 49-35 prior to 10 minutes remaining.

The Warhawks cut their deficit to four points twice in the final four minutes and each time the Cajuns pushed the ball up the court for a quick layup and breathing room.

La.-Monroe dropped the deficit to 57-53 after a Trent Mackey three-pointer at 3:41 and a triple from Charles Winborne with 1:05 showing made it 61-57. Following Winborne's trey the Cajuns found Andrews for a layup with 54 seconds remaining and stretched the lead back to double figures with free throws from McClellan and Bryant Mbamalu.

Brown, a native of Ruston playing close to home, led Louisiana with 14 points. He was joined in double figures by McClellan (13 points) and Payton (10 points).

The Cajuns enjoyed a 45-23 advantage in rebounds led by a season-high eight from Mbamalu. UL also dominated in the paint, finishing with a 36-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Brown led a trio of Warhawks in double figures with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Mackey and Winborne combined for 30 points off the bench as the La.-Monroe bench outscored Louisiana's 33-22.

The Ragin' Cajuns posted their third straight win over the Warhawks at Fant-Ewing Coliseum, improving to 9-4 all-time in the building. Louisiana now owns a 9-2 series edge over La.-Monroe in Sun Belt regular season contests.

UL brought its record above .500 at 12-11 and improved to 6-3 in Sun Belt play which is the best mark through nine league games since the 2004-05 team was 7-2.

Neither team got off to a good start as both combined to shoot 1-of-9 and each turned the ball over three times in the first 4:05 of the contest. A Fred Brown jumper that put the Warhawks up 2-0 at 19:30 was the only field goal make. Two Josh Brown freebies for the Cajuns knotted the score at 2-all at 19:07.

A Hugh Mingo free throw that came at 17:35 broke the tie and the score stayed the same through the 15:32 mark when out of the media timeout Payton registered a basket that gave UL a 4-3 lead.

McClellan knocked down a mid-range jumper at 14:22 to extend the UL lead to 6-3. The Cajuns defense continued to frustrate the Warhawks forcing turnovers on the host's next two possessions. A three-point make by Thomas pushed the Cajuns advantage to 9-3 at the 13:27 mark.

La.-Monroe responded with an 8-0 run finished off by a Fabio Ribeiro three-point play at 11:14 and took an 11-9 lead. Payton had a quick answer as he broke to the basket 13 seconds later for a layup and an 11-all tie.

Coleby hit a fadeaway jumper in the lane at 8:45 to return the lead to the Cajuns at 13-11. Following an Mbamalu basket at 7:42 the lead was four points and remained between two and four points as the teams swapped scores the next two minutes.

Louisiana began to create separation when McClellan buried triples on back-to-back possessions for a 25-17 lead with 4:48 remaining in the opening stanza.

The Cajuns would carry a 29-24 lead into the break despite shooting 31 percent (10-of-32) in the first half. UL out-rebounded La.-Monroe 25-11 and used that advantage to record nine second-chance points.

It was still a five point game two minutes into the second half until the Cajuns used a Brown fadeaway in the lane at 17:31 and Mbamalu layup at 17:03 to open their largest lead at that point, 35-26.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Move Back Over .500, Pick Up Road Win in Monroe

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