Cajuns Set School Record In Rout Of Centenary

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns exploded for their most points since 2002 and hit a school-record 16 three-point buckets in a 115-59 rout of Centenary on Saturday afternoon at the Cajundome.

Louisiana (5-4) won for the third time in its last four games and had all 12 players to see the court put in at least four points in the 56-point win, with only one player playing more than 20 minutes.

That one player was senior Xavian Rimmer, who broke out of his early-season shooting slump in a big way, hitting five of his seven tries from beyond the arc – all in the game's final five minutes – after starting the season just 3-for-19 from three-point range.

"It was great to see Xavian (Rimmer) shoot the ball like that," Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin said. "We all know he is a better shooter than what he has shown, and it was only a matter of time before he did something like that."

Rimmer finished with 15 points for the game as one of five Cajuns in double figures, but was the last Cajun player to find the scoring column after going 0-for-2 in the game's first 35 minutes. But he connected on a straightaway three at the 4:18 mark and followed by hitting his next four in a span of just 2:36, including his last one at the 1:42 mark to surpass the old school record of 15 threes as a team, a mark that had been matched three times previously, most recently in 2009.

Hayward Register also reached double figures for the second time in his career, hitting 4-for-8 from three, while Shawn Long led all scorers with 22 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes.

UL also got 14 points and eight rebounds from Devonta Walker, and 11 points and four assists from Kasey Shepherd. In all, seven Cajuns connected on shots from downtown, including two from Shepherd and two from Donovan Williams.

The Cajuns finished the day hitting a season-high 59.5 percent from the floor against the Gents (4-7), while going over the century mark in scoring for the first time this season. The team also surrendered a season-low 10 turnovers, while forcing 18 with 14 steals.

Louisiana wasted no time building an early lead, jumping out to a 20-6 advantage in the first five minutes of the game. Long had seven points in that stretch, including his first three of the season, one of seven the Cajuns hit in the half, on their way to a 64-28 halftime lead. It was the most points UL had scored in a half since dropping 64 on Louisiana College in 2002.

The Gents did not reach double figures until midway through the period, but by that time UL already held a 35-10 lead, an advantage that grew to 36 at the end of the period. The Cajuns hit 56.8 percent from the floor in the half, getting two threes apiece from Register and Shepherd, while Long put in 15 points and pulled in six boards in just 11 minutes on the court.

But UL was even better in the second half, hitting 63.3 percent from the field while holding Centenary to just 27.3 percent with no starter playing more than Long's eight minutes.

They pushed the lead past the 40-point mark less than seven minutes into the half on the third of three straight buckets from Long before a three from Donovan Williams and a bucket from Steven Wronkoski capped off a 17-2 run with just 11:12 to play.

From there the Cajun reserves carried the rest of the way, leading by 44 before Rimmer's fireworks in the game's final minutes ballooned the margin to as much as 58 points.

The Ragin' Cajuns will gun for their third straight win on Wednesday when they host Milligan College at 7:00 p.m. at the Cajundome.

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Team Stats

Shawn Long

Xavian Rimmer

Devonta Walker

Hayward Register

Players Mentioned

Shawn Long

Hayward Register

Xavian Rimmer

Kasey Shepherd

Devonta Walker

Donovan Williams

Steven Wronkoski