Men’s Basketball: Stroman, Gant tag-team to helps Cajuns beat UL Monroe

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Feb. 16, 2019

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During one stretch that started with about five-and-a-half minutes to go, Stroman scored six Ragin’ Cajun points in a row.

For the last of the six, he used a nasty crossover to blow past Tyree White in the paint and make it 76-68 with 2:39 left.

“I just (saw) the game flow, and how they (were) guarding me,” Stroman said when asked what prompted him to take over. “I just kept attacking, and I kept making shots.”

“He did a great job — early, in the second half, for sure — going to the basket and answering each call they had, and was able to finish,” UL coach Bob Marlin added. “He was the key to the game.”

But not just by scoring.

During one two-minute span midway through the first half, Gant scored six straight points — four of them off lobs from Stroman that resulted in backboard-rattling alley-oop dunks.

More: Plenty of talking points for Ragin’ Cajuns guard Stroman

“JaKeenan’s dunks were crucial,” Marlin said.

“I’ve been playing with ’Ke since high school, so it’s natural, really,” added Stroman, who had Gant as a teammate during their AAU days. “And I know he’s gonna go get it, basically.”

A feed from Justin Miller to Gant inside came between the two alley-oops.

But it was when Gant went high to slam home the deliveries from Stroman that bodies jumped from the Cajun bench.

What makes them know when the time is right?

“It’s natural,” Stroman said.

“It’s anything,” Gant added. “If he’s seeing my dude helping (off), he’s reading my dude and I just give him a little …”

With that, Gant nods his ever so slightly.

“‘Throw it up,’” Gant said. “So he’ll just throw it.”

More: ‘Something you can’t measure is heart’

WHAT HAPPENED

ULM cut the Cajun lead to five twice in the last 30 seconds, first when Daishon Smith made a layup to make it 77-72 and again when Smith’s jumper made it 81-76 with three seconds left.

But Stroman was 2-of-2 and Cedric Russell 4-of-4 from the free-throw line to seal it for UL, with all four of Russell’s freebies coming in the final 10 seconds.