Men’s Basketball: UL handles Georgia Southern in regular-season finale

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, March 6, 2016

 

Devonta Walker shooting a free throw as UL Mens Basketball taking on Georgia Southern at the Cajundome. March 5, 2016.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/THE ADVERTISER)

 

PHOTO GALLERY: Ragin’ Cajuns vs. Georgia Southern

 

Long before UL took the floor for its final regular-season game Saturday night against Georgia Southern at the Cajundome, the Ragin’ Cajuns were assured they would finish as no worse than the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Appalachian State’s win earlier Saturday over Arkansas State took care of that.

UL coach Bob Marlin didn’t tell his Cajuns all that, though. He preferred that they not know. Marlin wanted to keep his club playing with as much as incentive as possible.

UL also could have moved to as high as third had it won Saturday and if Texas-Arlington had lost to Troy. Before the Cajuns were finished, that possibility was effectively wiped out as well. But they didn’t know that either.

So while an 87-78 win over Georgia Southern on Senior Night did not impact the standings either way, it did serve to send the now 16-13 Cajuns to New Orleans for the SBC tourney the right way.

Senior guard Kasey Shepherd led the Cajuns with 20 points that included three made treys, senior power forward Devonta Walker had a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double, Hayward Register added 14 points while shooting 5-for-9 from the field and senior big man Shawn Long had nine rebounds to go with his 11 points in a much-needed win for UL.

“We’ve been up and down,” Walker said. “We just had to stay focused.”

UL now goes to the tourney with a one-game bye and will open at 5 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 5 seed Georgia Southern and No. 8 seed South Alabama.

“It’s a good feeling,” Shepherd of going to New Orleans coming off a win, especially when UL had lost two straight and five of six prior to Saturday. “All the guys are happy right now. There’s really a lot of positivity, which will hopefully carrying on to your practice, which will lead to good preparation.

“Hopefully that will be give us an advantage come Friday night. We’ll be ready.”

There wasn’t much positivity for UL early on Saturday, but the Cajuns overcame it and went into halftime up 38-35.

With Long getting double- and triple-teamed and dealing with early foul issues, and picking up a technical in the process, Walker – who started in his final regular-season home game as a senior, but usually comes off the bench – came up big for the Cajuns with a 13-point, 10-rebound double in the first half alone.

A technical foul on an irate Marlin followed the one on Long.

“I just wanted to have fun,” Walker said. “My last time coming here.

“They were doubling (Long) in the post,” he added. “He didn’t much touches, so I just had to step up.”

Register put the Cajuns ahead to stay by knocking down a 3-pointer that made it 68-66 with six minutes and 47 seconds remaining.

It was one of eight made treys on 28 tries by UL, the Sun Belt’s worst team by percentage from long distance.

A dunk by Long followed by two Long free throws extended the UL advantage to six with 5:08 left.

The big separation for the Cajuns, though, came when Walker first made a layup to put UL 74-69 with 4:01 left, then Register stole Georgia Southern’s inbounds pass for a bucket six seconds later that made it a seven-point game.

“(That) was big for us,” Marlin said.

Wright’s 3-pointer with 2:37 to go put UL up 79-71, Register followed with a layup and the Cajun lead never dipped below after that.

UL turned to a 1-3-1 zone to slow Georgia Southern, helping to snap its two-game skid.

“It’s good to get back in the win column after a tough loss on Thursday (to Georgia State), (when) we felt like we had the game under control but didn’t make stops or the plays needed down the stretch,” Marlin said. “But we did tonight.”