Late Rally Comes Up Short For Cajuns Against Little Rock

LAFAYETTE – Josh Hagins scored 18 points, including three 3-pointers, and Little Rock withstood a late rally to claim a 68-64 victory over the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in a Sun Belt Conference basketball game on Saturday at the Cajundome.

Roger Woods added 14 points as Little Rock (22-3, 12-2 SBC) maintained first-place in the Sun Belt Conference standings while snapping a nine-game winning streak for Louisiana (14-9, 10-4 SBC). The loss at home was the Ragin' Cajuns first in the Cajundome this season in 12 games and snapped a 14-game win streak in the building dating back to last season.

In a battle between the league's top two teams, the Trojans came out and used a 20-6 run that turned an 18-all slugfest with 8:20 remaining in the first half into a 38-24 lead heading into intermission. The Ragin' Cajuns, who finished 21-for-49 (42.9 percent) from the floor, missed their first seven shots to open the game while going 1-for-12 from behind the 3-point line in the first half.

"We got off to a poor start, and the pace of the game, and obviously the flow of the game, didn't go the way we wanted it, and that played right into their hands," head coach Bob Marlin said. "They had excellent bench play in the first half from (Daniel) Green and (Jermaine) Ruttley, a couple of guys who came in and them a boost off the bench. And we couldn't knock in a three."

Louisiana cut the Little Rock lead to 50-44 when Kasey Shepherd scored on a bucket in the lane, before a jumper by Ruttley, a bucket by Woods and a 3-pointer by Mareik Isom pushed the lead back to 57-44 with 9:40 remaining.

After Isom connected on a jumper for a 61-48 lead with 4:25 left, the Ragin' Cajuns began to chip away at the lead. Steven Wronkoski sandwiched a Hagins bucket with consecutive 3-pointers for the Ragin' Cajuns before Shawn Long would eventually cut the deficit to 65-60 with a basket with 1:13 remaining.

Johnathan Stove, who scored a season-high 18 points and finished 10-for-10 from the free throw line, added a pair of free throws that cut the lead to 65-62, and a bucket by Elijah McGuire closed the gap to 65-64 with 27 seconds remaining.

But Little Rock would get three free throws down the stretch as Woods sank a pair with 15.6 seconds left Hagins sank one of two free throws with 0.7 remaining after a desperation 3-point attempt by Hayward Register fell short.

"We told the guys at halftime that 'we were 2-for-11 (from behind the 3-point line) against A-State and we came out and shot 7-for-12 … we're going to make some in the second half,'" Marlin said. "But we never did until the end. Steve got a couple to go, and we rallied to get back in the game. I was proud of our guys. Nothing went right for us today."

Long, who moved ahead of Marvin Winkler (2,128) into fourth-place on the school's all-time scoring list, finished with 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to notch his 70th career double-double for Louisiana. Bryce Washington added 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting for the Ragin' Cajuns while Shepherd added nine points and Wronkoski eight.

Louisiana will now play its next four games on the road beginning on Thursday (Feb. 18) when it travels to face UT Arlington at 7:15 p.m. The Ragin' Cajuns will visit Texas State on Feb. 20 before facing Troy (Feb. 25) and South Alabama (Feb. 27).

Next Event

Team Stats

Johnathan Stove

Shawn Long

Bryce Washington

Kasey Shepherd

Players Mentioned

Shawn Long

Elijah McGuire

Hayward Register

Kasey Shepherd

Johnathan Stove

Bryce Washington

Steven Wronkoski