University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Saturday, March 2
Monroe, La.
4:00 PM
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
12-19, 8-12
71
at
63
ULM
4-22, 3-17
1
2
F
Louisiana
34
37
71
ULM
26
37
63
Men's Hoops Claims 71-63 Win At ULM
3/2/2013 7:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
| Box Score (PDF)
Contact: Brian McCann
MONROE, La. – Shawn Long registered his 17th double-double of the year and Bryant Mbamalu and Alan-Michael Thompson added 13 points as Louisiana snapped a 10-game road losing streak with a 71-63 win over ULM on Saturday evening in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The win was the first on the road for Louisiana since defeating North Texas, 80-76, on Dec. 1 in Denton, Texas.
The win improves the Cajuns to 12-19 on the year and 8-12 in Sun Belt Conference play. ULM closes the year with a 4-22 overall mark and 3-17 in Sun Belt play.
If Florida Atlantic defeats FIU Saturday night, the Cajuns will enter the tourney as the No. 8 seed and face No. 9 North Texas on Friday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. in an opening round game of the Sun Belt Conference championship in Hot Springs, Ark.
If FAU loses to FIU, the Cajuns grab the No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 Troy on Friday at 9:00 p.m.
“We showed some enthusiasm and excitement tonight,” Marlin said. “They cut the lead to two points early in the second half but we didn't budge and never let them get the lead. That's a great sign, especially considering the momentum that it gives us headed into the tournament next week.
“We hit our shots tonight, which is something that we haven't done on the road this year, and our defense was pretty good.
“We missed a couple of free throws and had some bad turnovers down the stretch, otherwise the game wouldn't have been as close as it was,” Marlin added.
Long scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Cajuns while Thompson connected on four three-pointers to score 13 points and Mbamalu hit four two-point field goals and five free throws to add 13.
Elfrid Payton scored eight points with seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals. He raised his season steal total to 76, moving him into third on the UL single-season assist list, and he has 168 assists, moving him from 10th to seventh on the assist chart.
Marlin noted the strong play of freshman Cornell Barnett, who scored a career-high four points in 14 minutes of action.
“Cornell really came through early in the game when we were in a little foul trouble,” Marlin said. “He didn't score a lot of points, but the ones he did score were really important at the time. The team was real excited for him in the locker room”
Long scored the first nine points of the game for the Cajuns with the game being tied at 4-4 and 6-6. Long's three started a 9-0 run that also featured two points from Payton, Mbamalu and Josh Soto that gave UL a 15-6 lead with 10:46 remaining.
Back-to-back treys by Kyle Koszuta and Trey Lindsey cut the Cajuns lead to 17-14 (8:06) and the Warhawks eventually trailed, 20-18 when Amos Olatayo scored in the lane with 6:06 left.
Louisiana would come right back as Elridge Moore tipped in a missed Long shot, Alan-Michael Thompson knocked down a trey and Payton scored on a dunk after going coast-to-coast after making a steal, giving the Cajuns a 27-18 lead.
Five straight points by James would allow the Warhawks to trim the deficit to 27-23 with 3:00 left, but baskets by Long and Payton and a three-pointer by Thompson gave Louisiana its largest lead of the half, 34-23 with 1:13 to play.
The Warhawks ran off the next nine points of the game, including the first six of the second stanza, to close to within 34-32 with 19:20 left in the game.
The Ragin' Cajuns caught fire, scoring 14 of the next 18 points to rebuilding a 48-36 lead at the 12:42 mark.
Cornell Barnett started the run with a three-point play with Moore following with five straight points, including his first career three-point field goal. Payton finished the burst with an alley-oop dunk in transition from Thompson after making a steal.
Foul trouble hurt the Warhawks as starting guards Trent Mackey (7:11) and Kyle Koszuto (6:27) each fouled out.
The Warhawks would whittle the lead down to 64-60 on a pair of free throws by Amos Olafayo at the 3:19 mark but the Cajuns wouldn't let ULM any closer.
A tip-in by Long of a missed jumper by Thompson pushed the lead to 66-60 and Mbamalu followed by making a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to put the game away.
Contact: Brian McCann
MONROE, La. – Shawn Long registered his 17th double-double of the year and Bryant Mbamalu and Alan-Michael Thompson added 13 points as Louisiana snapped a 10-game road losing streak with a 71-63 win over ULM on Saturday evening in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The win was the first on the road for Louisiana since defeating North Texas, 80-76, on Dec. 1 in Denton, Texas.
The win improves the Cajuns to 12-19 on the year and 8-12 in Sun Belt Conference play. ULM closes the year with a 4-22 overall mark and 3-17 in Sun Belt play.
If Florida Atlantic defeats FIU Saturday night, the Cajuns will enter the tourney as the No. 8 seed and face No. 9 North Texas on Friday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. in an opening round game of the Sun Belt Conference championship in Hot Springs, Ark.
If FAU loses to FIU, the Cajuns grab the No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 Troy on Friday at 9:00 p.m.
“We showed some enthusiasm and excitement tonight,” Marlin said. “They cut the lead to two points early in the second half but we didn't budge and never let them get the lead. That's a great sign, especially considering the momentum that it gives us headed into the tournament next week.
“We hit our shots tonight, which is something that we haven't done on the road this year, and our defense was pretty good.
“We missed a couple of free throws and had some bad turnovers down the stretch, otherwise the game wouldn't have been as close as it was,” Marlin added.
Long scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Cajuns while Thompson connected on four three-pointers to score 13 points and Mbamalu hit four two-point field goals and five free throws to add 13.
Elfrid Payton scored eight points with seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals. He raised his season steal total to 76, moving him into third on the UL single-season assist list, and he has 168 assists, moving him from 10th to seventh on the assist chart.
Marlin noted the strong play of freshman Cornell Barnett, who scored a career-high four points in 14 minutes of action.
“Cornell really came through early in the game when we were in a little foul trouble,” Marlin said. “He didn't score a lot of points, but the ones he did score were really important at the time. The team was real excited for him in the locker room”
Long scored the first nine points of the game for the Cajuns with the game being tied at 4-4 and 6-6. Long's three started a 9-0 run that also featured two points from Payton, Mbamalu and Josh Soto that gave UL a 15-6 lead with 10:46 remaining.
Back-to-back treys by Kyle Koszuta and Trey Lindsey cut the Cajuns lead to 17-14 (8:06) and the Warhawks eventually trailed, 20-18 when Amos Olatayo scored in the lane with 6:06 left.
Louisiana would come right back as Elridge Moore tipped in a missed Long shot, Alan-Michael Thompson knocked down a trey and Payton scored on a dunk after going coast-to-coast after making a steal, giving the Cajuns a 27-18 lead.
Five straight points by James would allow the Warhawks to trim the deficit to 27-23 with 3:00 left, but baskets by Long and Payton and a three-pointer by Thompson gave Louisiana its largest lead of the half, 34-23 with 1:13 to play.
The Warhawks ran off the next nine points of the game, including the first six of the second stanza, to close to within 34-32 with 19:20 left in the game.
The Ragin' Cajuns caught fire, scoring 14 of the next 18 points to rebuilding a 48-36 lead at the 12:42 mark.
Cornell Barnett started the run with a three-point play with Moore following with five straight points, including his first career three-point field goal. Payton finished the burst with an alley-oop dunk in transition from Thompson after making a steal.
Foul trouble hurt the Warhawks as starting guards Trent Mackey (7:11) and Kyle Koszuto (6:27) each fouled out.
The Warhawks would whittle the lead down to 64-60 on a pair of free throws by Amos Olafayo at the 3:19 mark but the Cajuns wouldn't let ULM any closer.
A tip-in by Long of a missed jumper by Thompson pushed the lead to 66-60 and Mbamalu followed by making a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to put the game away.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
Team Stats
UL
ULM
FG%
.426
.396
3FG%
.421
.227
FT%
.654
.593
RB
36
36
TO
15
16
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
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