University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
7-11,2-5Sun Belt
Georgia Southern
11-7,5-2Sun Belt
Louisiana Goes Cold In Second Half; Falls At Georgia Southern In SBC Contest, 71-51
1/11/2020 6:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Ragin' Cajuns back home to host UTA (Jan. 16), Texas State (Jan. 18) and ULM (Jan. 25)
STATESBORO, Ga. – Elijah McCadden and Isaiah Crawley scored 13 points apiece and Georgia Southern held the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns without a field goal for over 10 minutes in the second half to rally to a 71-51 Sun Belt Conference victory on Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse.
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Simeon Carter added 11 points and nine rebounds as Georgia Southern (11-7, 5-2 Sun Belt) erased a 30-26 halftime deficit by outscoring Louisiana (7-11, 2-5 Sun Belt), 45-21, in the second half while holding the Ragin' Cajuns to 6-for-25 (24 percent) from the floor in the second half.
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Louisiana opened the game on a 9-4 run after a layup by Calvin Temple and stretched its lead to 16-9 on a bucket by Tirus Smith with 14:12 remaining in the first half. The Ragin' Cajuns took their biggest lead of the day, 23-14, when Jalen Johnson buried a 3-pointer with 11:23 remaining and maintained their lead heading into the break on a bucket by Kristian Lafayette with 50 seconds left.
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Johnson, who scored a game-high 15 points, opened the second half with a 3-pointer for Louisiana and the Ragin' Cajuns held a 38-32 lead on a dunk by Dou Gueye with 16:54 remaining.
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After a bucket by Johnson gave Louisiana a 40-37 lead with 13:58 remaining, the Eagles would go on a 22-3 run to take the lead for good. After being held to 1-for-8 from behind the 3-point line in the first half, Georgia Southern connected on five shots from long range during the run that gave the Eagles a 59-43 lead.
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Cedric Russell hit a baseline jumper during the stretch at the 10:00-mark that cut the Georgia State lead to 49-42, but the Ragin' Cajuns would miss their next 13 attempts from the floor before a dunk by Chris Spenkuch with 33 seconds remaining stopped the drought.
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Louisiana, which dressed out nine players including seven on scholarship for the second straight game, got 12 points from Smith before fouling out with 11:12 remaining. Temple added nine points and five assists for the Ragin' Cajuns with Gueye pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.
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The Ragin' Cajuns, who finished 18-for-63 from the floor, posted season-lows in both points and field-goal percentage (28.6 percent) for the second straight game while going 10-for-22 (season-low 45.5 percent) from the free throw line.
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Louisiana will return home for its next three games beginning on Thursday (Jan. 16) against UT Arlington at 7 p.m. The Ragin' Cajuns will close out the weekend against Texas State in a Black Out Game on Jan. 18 before hosting ULM on Jan. 25 in the Alumni Game and Red Out featuring a halftime performance by Red Panda.
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