Men’s Basketball: Cajuns whip Mean Green

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — A season ago, the third time was a curse.

But in 2012-13, behind the charming play of Elfrid Payton, Bryant Mbamalu, Alan-Michael Thompson and Shawn Long, registering a third straight win over North Texas in the same season was no problem at all.

It wasn’t just the work of those four, though, that helped lift No. 8 seed UL to 74-55 victory Friday night over Tony Mitchell and the ninth-seeded Mean Green in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament here.

The 13-19 Ragin’ Cajuns — who had lost six straight SBC tourney games since beating Troy 62-59 in overtime in 2006 — also got a key 3-pointer from Steven Wronkoski, some quality minutes off the bench by fellow true freshmen Cornell Barnett and Josh Soto, and stellar-again defense on Mitchell by undersized power forward Elridge Moore.

The prize for UL: A meeting tonight against the Sun Belt’s No. 1 seed, 27-4 Middle Tennessee.

"It was a competitive basketball game for a long period of time," said coach Bob Marlin, whose Cajuns were bounced from last year’s Sun Belt tourney in the quarterfinal round by a North Texas team it had beaten twice earlier in 2011-12.

"I was proud of our guys for making plays and making shots down the stretch, and doing the job on the defensive end when we needed to. "» It was just a team effort by our guys defensively."

First-team All-Sun Belt selection Payton finished with a game-high 20 points, Mbamalu and Thompson had 16 each, and Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Long added a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Cajuns.

"That was real big," Payton said of Mbamalu’s and Thompson’s play. "We like to get them rolling, get their shots going, because we know how capable they are. Once they hit, they’re able to hit another one."

Mbamalu was 7-of-11 from the field, including 2-for-4 from 3-point range, while Thompson, UL’s lone senior, was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Moore and Long, meanwhile, helped hold Mitchell to 12 rebounds and just 10 points, marking the sixth time in six games over the last two years — two regular-season wins last season, the loss to North Texas in last year’s conference tourney and all three victories this season — that Cajuns have kept the NBA prospect’s numbers in check.

North Texas coach Tony Benford credited the Cajuns for how they worked to deny Mitchell the ball on Friday.

"UL just gets after you defensively," said Mitchell, wound up 3-for-7 from the field.

"Elridge (Moore) did a good job on him," Payton added, "and we were able to help in certain situations."

Up 33-29 after a first half in which Payton scored nine of his 20, the Cajuns reeled off an 8-0 run that stretched to 11-1 and eventually 13-2 early in the second half.

After that, UL was largely in control the rest of the way.

"Once we were able to make those runs," Payton said, "they just kind of deflated."

"There wasn’t much resistance," Long added. "It didn’t really surprise me."

Mbamalu contributed seven of the UL’s first 11 points during the run, and later delivered a picture-perfect alley-oop pass to Thompson to put the Cajuns up 61-48 with 5:43 to go.

"It was nice, because we tease Bryant (Mbamalu) a lot about not being to throw alleys," Payton said. "And he threw a good one, so I was really excited for him."

North Texas did use a rare 4-point by Mitchell — he banked in a 3, and hit the free-throw that followed — to get back to within nine on its next trip down the floor.

But a few possessions later, with the score still 61-52, Payton fed Long down low. Long, blanketed by Mitchell, then kicked a pass up top to Wronkoski for a trey that made it 64-52.

Marlin called it "a dagger" from Wronkoski.

"You know what’s crazy? He hasn’t been shooting the ball that well. … And he’s turned down some shots," Marlin said. "But he hit a big 3 against North Texas in Denton in that (first game of the season), in the corner opposite our bench, and he hit a big 3 in front of North Texas’ bench to start the game at our place, and I told him, ‘You’re gonna hit a big 3 tonight.’ And he certainly did."

"At first I didn’t see him, but as soon as I saw him my eyes lit up, because I know Steve is capable of knocking that shot down," Long added. "So I was real happy he got open. It was money."

UL led by double digits the rest of the way, and extended its lead to as many as 20 when Payton made a free throw with 1:48 remaining.

LAGNIAPPE: North Texas played without would-be starter Alzee Williams for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. "» Long’s double-double was his 18th of the season. "» Mitchell held off on declaring for the NBA Draft after Friday’s game, instead saying he first had to discuss the matter with his family and coach. "» Middle Tennessee, UL’s opponent tonight, had a first-round bye. The Cajuns are 0-2 this season against the Blue Raiders, who like the North Texas are headed for Conference USA after this season.