Cajuns Unable to Recover From Pioneers Fast Start

Box Score

Denver scored the game's first nine points, built the lead into double figures in only five minutes of play and never looked back in handing the Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team a 77-52 defeat Thursday evening at Magness Arena in Denver.

The Cajuns (15-13, 9-5 Sun Belt) shot 22 percent in the opening half, didn't reach double digits until 5:34 remained in the opening stanza and trailed by as many as 27 points in the second half.

Triples by Raymone Andrews, Darshawn McClellan and Alan-Michael Thompson on three straight possessions started a 13-2 Cajuns run that trimmed the DU lead to 55-39 with 11:28 remaining.

Denver (19-8, 9-5 Sun Belt) scored five of the next six points to re-establish a 20-plus point lead by the 9:48 mark. J.J. Thomas converted a three-point play for UL at 9:33 and it was 61-43.

The teams swapped scoring possessions over the next four minutes and the Cajuns couldn't inch any closer than 18 points the remainder of the game.

The Pioneers handed the Cajuns their largest margin of defeat in the Bob Marlin era and first 20-plus point conference defeat since falling 88-65 at FIU on Feb. 13, 1999.

McClellan led Louisiana with 10 points. The Cajuns remaining starters – Andrews, Josh Brown, Kadeem Coleby and Bryant Mbamalu – combined for just 12 points.

Chris Udofia led a quartet of Pioneers in double figures with 19 points. DU shot above 50 percent the entire night, finishing at 59.2 percent, making it impossible for UL to recover from the early deficit.

Louisiana travels to Denton, Texas for the final road game of the 2011-12 regular season on Saturday against North Texas at The Super Pit. The game is being televised on the Sun Belt Network and is set to tip at 3:30 p.m.

DU became the first Sun Belt team to shoot above 50 percent against the Cajuns defense which ranks second in the league in field goal percentage defense.

The loss drops the Cajuns to 1-1/2 games behind Sun Belt West leader UALR who defeated FIU 78-64 and knocks the Cajuns into a three-way tie with Denver and North Texas as teams with five SBC losses fighting to earn a seed in the league tournament that will provide a day off on the opening day of action.

The Cajuns came up empty on their first three possessions and the Pioneers didn't. As a result DU led 7-0 only 1:50 into the game. A Brian Stafford layup on a backdoor cut at 17:20 extended the Pioneers' game-opening run to 9-0.

Brown put UL on the board banking a shot off the glass at 16:52. He then grabbed a long rebound and pushed the ball up the court in transition for a stop-and-pop jumper at 16:34 that cut the early deficit to 9-4.

The Pioneers responded with a Udofia hook shot at 16:09 and an Royce O'Neale floater after an Mbamalu turnover to return the lead to nine points, 13-4, by the 15:35 mark.

DU came out sizzling, shooting 6-of-7 in the first five minutes compared to 2-of-8 for UL.

The Pioneers hot start continued after the first media timeout as a Chase Hallam jumper and Justin Coughlin layup pushed the lead to 17-4 with 13:45 on the clock.

McClellan nabbed an offensive rebound and converted the putback at 13:21, but that was the Cajuns only points for the next six minutes and DU extended the lead to 24-6.

The Cajuns first-half field goal percentage never rose above 25 percent and as a result they couldn't lower their deficit below 20 points at halftime.

Trailing 37-16, Scottie Farrington had a chance to get the deficit under 20 points, but he missed the first of two free throw attempts. Stafford added two freebies with 2.4 seconds to give DU a 39-17 halftime edge.

DU opened the second half with a Chase Hallam three-pointer on the left elbow to open a 25-point edge and prompt a Bob Marlin timeout.

UL quickly scored four points after the timeout as Andrews drew a foul and made two free throws then Mbamalu collected a steal and fed Coleby for an alley-oop at 19:13 that made it 42-21.

A five-point spurt provided by a Udofia trey at 18:08 and Chase Hallam layup at 17:21 increased the lead to 47-21.

After another Chase Hallam bucket at 14:14 the Cajuns found themselves trailing by 27 points, 53-26.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Unable to Recover From Pioneers Fast Start

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