Men’s Basketball: Wright’s Second Half Heroics Helps Louisiana Past Texas State in OT, 94-84 94-84

LAFAYETTE – Senior Jay Wright scored all 21 of his points after halftime, including a stretch of 14 straight that help the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team rally from a nine-point deficit and earn a 94-84 overtime victory over Texas State in a Sun Belt Conference game on Thursday at the Cajundome.
 
Justin Miller and Bryce Washington each posted double-doubles as Louisiana (19-11, 9-8 SBC) trailed 63-54 with 6:36 remaining in regulation before outscoring Texas State (17-12, 10-7 SBC), 40-21, the rest of the way.
 
The win, the fifth straight for Louisiana, moved the Ragin’ Cajuns a game closer to their third 20-win season in the past four years while improving to 9-1 all-time against Texas State and 5-0 overall in Lafayette.
 
"To say we struggled a little bit tonight would be an understatement," head coach Bob Marlin said. "We turned the ball over in the first half, their (Texas State’s) defense was really good, it caused us some problems, we got frustrated.
 
"Jay Wright … does not score in the first half, he had two quick fouls and we had to take him out. At halftime, I told him in the game at Texas State, he had 19 (points) in the second half, and that ‘you’re capable of coming out’ and going in the second half. He answered every time."
 
Wright, who moved into a tie with Randal Daigle (1,075 points, 2007-11) for 36th-place on the Ragin’ Cajuns all-time scoring list, scored five straight points for Louisiana after Texas State’s Kavin Gilder-Tilbury gave the Bobcats a 70-64 lead on a jumper with 1:52 left.
 
Gilder-Tilbury, who led the Bobcats with 21 points before fouling out in overtime, hit a heavily-guarded 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down for a 73-69 lead with 22 seconds left before Wright buried a 30-footer that closed the gap to 73-72 with 15 seconds remaining.
 
After Bobby Conley made one of two free throws that gave Texas State a 74-72 lead, Wright followed with a driving layup that knotted the score with eight seconds left before Nedeljko Prijovic missed a 3-pointer just before the final buzzer.
 
Wright gave Louisiana a 76-75 lead on the Ragin’ Cajuns first possession in the extra period, scoring on a layup with 4:33 remaining and drawing the fifth foul on Gilder-Tilbury. Wright missed the opportunity for the three-point play, but Jerekius Davis would get the offensive rebound and Miller would score for a 78-75 lead.
 
Louisiana would break open a 78-all contest, scoring the next seven points as Frank Bartley gave the Ragin’ Cajuns the lead for good with a pair of free throws with 3:34 left. Wright followed with a 3-pointer before Davis would get a steal and layup for an 85-78 lead with 2:34 remaining.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns extended their lead to 90-80 on two free throws by Davis with 1:44 remaining before the redshirt freshman gave Louisiana its biggest lead of the night, 92-81, with a layup at the 1:07 mark.
 
Both teams battled through four ties and five lead changes in the first half with neither team leading by more than five points. The Bobcats’ deliberate offense made 15 of 26 shots in the first half (57.7 percent) and held a 33-28 lead on a bucket by Immanuel King with 2:41 remaining.
 
Louisiana closed out the half with an 8-0 run as Johnathan Stove scored six points during the run, including a go-ahead 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 36-33 lead at halftime.
 
Texas State would rally in the second half, snapping a 46-all deadlock on a 3-pointer by Gilder-Tilbury with 14:34 remaining before his 3-pointer with 6:36 remaining gave the Bobcats their biggest lead of the night.
 
Miller scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Louisiana, finishing 8-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-3 from behind the 3-point line. Washington scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for his 21st double-double of the season along with dishing out a team-high four assists
 
Stove added 15 points for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Bartley adding 12.
 
Freshman Nijal Pearson added 20 points for Texas State, which finished 32-for-57 (56.1 percent) from the floor. Ojai Black added 16 points for the Bobcats with King pulling down a team-high six rebounds.
 
Louisiana will close out the regular-season on Saturday when it hosts regular-season champion UT Arlington in a 7:15 p.m. contest. Before the game, Wright will be honored during the Ragin’ Cajuns Senior Day ceremony.