Shepherd, Walker Power Cajuns Past Georgia Southern

Team	1	2	F
Georgia Southern	35	43	78
Louisiana	38	49	87

Georgia Southern

Louisiana

LAFAYETTE – Playing in their final regular-season game at home, seniors Kasey Shepherd and Devonta Walker each broke out of a scoring slump, combining to score 36 points and lead the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team to an 87-78 win over Georgia Southern on Saturday at the Cajundome.

Hayward Register added 14 points while Shawn Long had 11 points and nine rebounds as Louisiana (16-13, 12-8 Sun Belt) clinched the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament in New Orleans.

The Ragin' Cajuns, who earned a first-round bye for the third-straight year, will face the winner of either fifth-seeded Georgia Southern (14-16, 10-10 Sun Belt) or eighth-seeded South Alabama (13-18, 8-12 Sun Belt) in a quarterfinal matchup on Friday at 5 p.m.

Shepherd, who had scored a combined 11 points on 3-for-22 shooting in his last four games, scored 20 points to lead Louisiana. The senior finished 5-for-11 from the floor, 3-for-7 from behind the 3-point line while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.

Walker, who was averaging 2.6 points in his last 10 games, posted a double-double for the Ragin' Cajuns after scoring 13 points of his 16 points and grabbing 10 of his season-high 16 rebounds in the first half. The Salisbury, Md., product played a season-high 29 minutes against the Eagles, finishing 5-for-8 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the free throw line.

Louisiana trailed 20-13 with 11:50 remaining in the first half after a layup by Ike Smith, but used an 11-2 run to take a 24-22 lead. Walker and Johnathan Stove scored four points each in the span while Shepherd drilled a 3-pointer with 6:04 remaining in the first half that knotted the score at 22-22.

Register, who was 0-for-10 from behind the 3-point line in his last three games, snapped a 31-all deadlock when he buried a 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining in the half before his jumper from just inside the arc helped the Cajuns take a 36-33 lead at the 1:22 mark.

The hometown product would give Louisiana the lead for good with 6:47 remaining in the game when his 3-pointer gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 68-66 lead. His steal and layup with 3:54 left upped Louisiana's lead to 76-69 and his fastbreak layup off a missed 3-pointer by Jake Allsmiller gave the Ragin' Cajuns their biggest lead of the night – 81-71 – with 2:16 remaining.

Louisiana finished 27-for-58 (46.6 percent) from the floor in the game, including 15-for-28 (53.6 percent) in the second half. The Ragin' Cajuns went 25-for-31 (80.6 percent) from the free throw line and held a decisive 49-19 advantage on the glass against Georgia Southern.

Freshman Tookie Brown led the Eagles with 25 points while Mike Hughes 23 points and added five steals. Devince Boykins added 10 points for Georgia Southern, which finished 28-for-62 (45.2 percent) from the floor and 14-for-17 (82.4 percent) from the free throw line.

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Team Stats

Shepherd Kasey

Walker Devonta

Register Hayward

Long Shawn

Players Mentioned

Shawn Long

Hayward Register

Kasey Shepherd

Johnathan Stove

Devonta Walker