Cajuns Fall To McDermott, Creighton In NCAA Second Round, 76-66

| Final Stats (PDF)
Louisiana Post-Game Quotes | Louisiana Locker Room Quotes | Creighton Post-Game Quotes

SAN ANTONIO – All-American Doug McDermott scored five of his game-high 30 points in an 8-0 run in the final two minutes and No. 3-seeded Creighton pulled away to defeat the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 76-66, in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship West Region Second Round on Friday at the AT&T Center.

Austin Chatman scored 16 points for Creighton (27-7) with Ethan Wragge scoring all 12 of his points from behind the 3-point line. Louisiana, the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champion making its sixth appearance in the NCAA Championships, ended its season at 23-12 overall.

"It was a good basketball game," head coach Bob Marlin said. "(We) felt like our game plan was the way we wanted it, except we didn't want (Ethan) Wragge to get loose, and he did. He scored 12 points. That's the difference in the game. (Austin) Chatman stepped up. We wanted him to make shots, he did. I thought he played well too.

"Besides that, I thought our guys fought and defended pretty good. We gave up 52%, which we've talked about being dangerous, especially to a good team like Creighton. We've battled back on the glass in the second half and didn't get a lot of breaks. So I'm proud of our guys. They played hard and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the basketball game."

Creighton built a nine-point lead in the first half and led 46-41 after McDermott scored on a jumper with 16:13 remaining in the game before Louisiana fought back with a 9-0 run.

Xavian Rimmer scored on a three-point play and Kevin Brown added a layup for the Ragin' Cajuns before buckets by J.J. Davenport and Elfrid Payton gave Louisiana a 50-46 lead with 12:15 left.

But a bucket by Grant Gibbs, back-to-back 3-pointers by Wragge and a pair of free throws by Gibbs would spark a 10-0 run and give the Bluejays the lead for good, 56-50.

Louisiana twice closed to within three points on 3-pointers by Bryant Mbamalu and Shawn Long, and trailed 68-64 when Payton hit a pair of free throws with 2:27 remaining before Creighton pulled away.

McDermott, who finished 13-for-23 from the floor and increased his career scoring total to 3,135 points, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:06 remaining before adding a layup with 1:11 left for a 73-64 lead. Chatman added a free throw before McDermott added a pair of free throws to extend Creighton's record of consecutive seasons with at least one postseason win to seven – joining Syracuse, Kansas and North Carolina.

The Cajuns opened the game with a 4-0 lead beginning with a bucket by Long on their first possession followed by a steal and dunk by Payton, who finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-for-20 shooting along with a team-high eight rebounds.

Gibbs and McDermott would add buckets around an Elridge Moore jumper in the lane before a three-point play by Chatman would give Creighton its first lead of the game, 7-6. The teams would trade the lead over the next four minutes before the Cajuns would take a 15-11 lead when Davenport made a pair of free throws and Brown sank a 3-pointer with 12:22 remaining.

McDermott would score the next four points for the Bluejays and after a layup by Payton gave the Cajuns a 19-17 lead, Creighton reclaimed the lead when a 3-pointer by Jahenns Manigat sparked a 7-0 run for a 25-19 advantage.

The Bluejays pushed their lead to nine when a layup by Avery Dingman gave Creighton a 29-20 lead, and led, 39-30, when Chatman hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in the half before a 3-pointer by Payton cut the deficit to 39-33 at halftime.

Long, who picked up two quick fouls to start the second half, finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Mbamalu, one of three seniors playing in their final game for the Ragin' Cajuns, finished with seven points while Brown added seven and Davenport six.

Louisiana, which committed a season-low four turnovers, finished 25-for-66 (37.9 percent) from the floor and 4-for-16 from behind the 3-point line. The Cajuns finished with a 36-36 deadlock on the boards, including a19-12 advantage in the second half.

"We had a really good season," Marlin said. "We fought through some injuries. We didn't have two of our senior starters and captains, Elridge Moore and Bryant Mbamalu throughout the year, those guys missed 17 games between them.

"We had a good run in conference. We lost a couple games at home in the Cajundome where we won the most games we had won in 23 years in the Dome. Then we turn around and win 11 of our last 13 with two three-point losses. Just like tonight, we competed. We felt like even at the end with a couple minutes to go, we were still right there at the three-minute mark."

NOTES –
• The tandem of junior guard Elfrid Payton and sophomore forward Shawn Long came into the game as the third-best scoring tandem in the nation (37.8 combined points per game). Both players hit double figures by halftime (10 points each) as Payton went on to score 24 and Long 15 (39 combined).
• With 24 points today, Elfrid Payton moved up four spots on the school's all-time scoring list to No. 16 with 1,425 points. It was Payton's 18th game this season with 20 or more points.
• With nine free throw attempts today, Elfrid Payton moved into second place nationally with a school-record 302 attempts on the season.
• Seven different players combined to score the Cajuns first 17 points.
• Louisiana went on a 9-0 run to turn a 46-41 deficit to a 50-46 lead from the 16:03 mark to 11:37. It was the Ragin' Cajuns last lead of the game, as Creighton closed the game on a 30-16 run.

Cajuns Fall To McDermott, Creighton In NCAA Second Round, 76-66

Team Stats

Elfrid Payton

Shawn Long

Bryant Mbamalu

Kevin Brown

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics