Defense Paves the Way as Cajuns Collect Critical Road Win

Box Score

Using a strong defensive effort the Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team recovered from a subpar performance at Denver and collected a critical road win over North Texas with a 57-53 triumph at The Super Pit in Denton, Texas.

Louisiana (16-13, 10-5 Sun Belt) was one game removed from allowing Denver to shoot 59 percent. The Cajuns bounced back in style showing the signs of the team that ranks second in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage defense by holding North Texas (15-12, 8-6 Sun Belt) to a paltry 29 percent (19-of-65).

Leading NT by just a half game in the conference standings the game served as a swing game. With the win the Cajuns moved 1-1/2 ahead of the Mean Green in the SBC standings and secured the head-to-head tiebreaker with the season series sweep.

Kadeem Coleby finished with eight blocked shots and picked up three in the final 1:03 to help fend off the Mean Green. Coleby's block at 1:03 with UL ahead 54-51 allowed the Cajuns to run clock, then after a McClellan turnover Coleby registered two more blocks forcing the Mean Green to settle for two free throws with 13.2 seconds remaining.

Raymone Andrews was fouled and made a pair of freebies with 11.8 ticks on the clock to make it 56-53. The Cajuns defense then forced Tyler Hall to step on the sideline and turn the ball back over Louisiana with 6.3 showing. Alan-Michael Thompson made a free throw to create a two-possession game with 4.6 left to play and the victory was assured.

Louisiana assured the first winning season for the program since the 2004-05 season with the victory and collected its first win in Denton since February 2005. The 16^th victory also marks the highest win total since 2004-05 (went 20-11).

The Ragin' Cajuns now take a week off from action before wrapping up the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Cajundome against in-state rival La.-Monroe.

McClellan and Coleby paced the Cajuns with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Coleby's eight blocked shots equaled his season-high set in the season opener vs. Northern Arizona back on Nov. 11.

The Cajuns limited Mean Green freshman sensation Tony Mitchell to seven points and seven rebounds – well below his season averages of 16.2 points and 10.7 rebounds.

UL got off to a similar slow start like the Denver game, but limited NT to just six points in the final 9:26 of the first half and outscored the hosts 20-6 to climb out of a 19-12 hole to claim a halftime lead they would not relinquish.

Louisiana secured its first season sweep of North Texas since the 2004-05 season and improved to 19-15 all-time against the Mean Green (14-10 in SBC regular season games).

It was the 11^th game this season decided by five points or less. The Cajuns improved to 7-4 in such contests.

The Cajuns fell behind 7-2 in the first four minutes as they opened the game 1-of-6 from the floor. The Mean Green stretched their early lead to 11-4 following a Roger Franklin jumper at the top of the key at the 13:21 mark.

A 6-0 run started by a Thompson trey at 12:49 and capped off by a Coleby dunk off a loose ball scramble dropped the NT lead to 11-10 with 11:53 remaining in the opening half.

Hall helped the Mean Green stretch the lead back again, draining triples of back-to-back possessions during the 10-minute mark for a 17-10 advantage.

The Cajuns stormed back using a 13-4 run to claim their first lead of the game. A McClellan trey at the 6:16 mark knotted the score at 21-all, then after a NT missed field goal and turnover McClellan drew a foul and sank both freebies at 5:10 for a 23-21 edge.

NT drew a 23-all tie off an Alzee Williams basket at 4:55. The Cajuns defense locked down forcing the Mean Green to miss their final five field goal tries of the opening stanza.

A Thompson jumper broke a 24-all tie at 3:09 and just before the clock reached one minute UL, once down seven points earlier in the half, generated a seven-point edge of its own.

Scottie Farrington made two free throws at 1:20 and it was 30-25. Thompson collected a steal from Alonzo Edwards on the ensuing possession and raced home for a tomahawk jam that created the halftime margin, 32-25.

The Cajuns defense posted a shutout of the Mean Green from 16:16 through 13:23 of the second half and was able to maintain a seven-point edge despite a shaky start on offense.

NT cut the UL lead to 37-34 with a pair of Williams baskets, the latter coming with 12:32 remaining.

After McClellan scored a layup at 10:23 to give the Cajuns six-point lead, 42-36, the Mean Green rolled of six unanswered in a 1:10 timeframe to forge a 42-all tie with 8:55 remaining.

UL was able to gain breathing room at the 6:26 mark after Bryant Mbamalu rebounded the second of two missed free throws by Coleby and hit a layup to extend the lead to 49-44.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Defense Paves the Way as Cajuns Collect Critical Road Win

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