Men’s Basketball: Mbamalu’s Season-High Effort Provides Spark in Win Over NT

Box Score

Bryant Mbamalu scored a season-high 19 points and provided a key six-point swing for the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team midway through the second half that helped hold off a late North Texas rally Wednesday evening at the Cajundome.
 
Louisiana (11-11, 5-3 Sun Belt) won 64-62 to pull into a tie with the Mean Green (12-9, 5-3 Sun Belt) in the Sun Belt standings, one-half game behind UALR and Denver (5-2 SBC) for the SBC West division lead.
 
Leading 48-45, Mbamalu registered three-point field goal makes on back-to-back Cajuns possessions at 9:08 and 8:12 to extend the lead to 54-45. One minute later, Kadeem Coleby capped off a critical 9-2 UL run with a fastbreak layup at 7:01 that put the Cajuns ahead 57-47.
 
After NT dropped the lead to 57-52 with 6:01 remaining, Raymone Andrews connected on a triple at 5:39 and on the next Cajuns touch Josh Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a leaner on the baseline with 4:36 on the clock to make it 62-52.
 
Louisiana went scoreless for the next three minutes and North Texas scored eight unanswered closing within two points, 62-60, with a Brandan Walton inside basket at 1:28. Andrews had a quick answer for the Cajuns as he scored a layup six seconds later to create a two-possession game.
 
Two Roger Franklin free throws with 56 seconds left and UL’s lead was 64-62. The Cajuns then fended off two three-point attempts by the Mean Green in the final 12 seconds to secure the victory.
 
Mbamalu was joined in double figures by Brown (12 points) and Coleby (10 points). He fell one point short of his career-high of 20 scored against Centenary last season.
 
The Mean Green had four players reach double figures with Franklin’s 15 being the team-high.
                                                                                                                                                    
The Ragin’ Cajuns picked up their third straight win over NT at the Cajundome and improved to 12-2 all-time against the Mean Green in the facility. The win was also the Cajuns eighth in a 14-game home schedule marking the 25^th winning season (out of 27 total) in Cajundome history.
 
Louisiana takes to the road for its next outing, but stays in the state of Louisiana traveling to Monroe to face La.-Monroe at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
The Cajuns scored the game’s first five points getting a jumper from Brown at 19:37 and three free throws from Coleby on two separate trips.
 
Trailing 7-2 after an Mbamalu layup at 17:13, the Mean Green forced a pair of UL turnovers and rolled off five straight pulling even at 15:35 on a Tony Mitchell freebie.
 
Neither team shot strong over the next five minutes, Louisiana going 1-of-6 and North Texas 0-of-6. The only field goal by the 11-minute media timeout came when Elfrid Payton banked home a shot from the paint at 11:14 for a 12-8 advantage.
 
The Mean Green drew within one point, 14-13, on a Niko Stojiljkovic triple at 9:49. The Cajuns extend the lead back to five points at 8:42 when Andrews collected a steal and a layup for an 18-13 lead.
 
UL pushed its lead to six points, 22-16, just before the six minute mark with an Mmbamalu basket, but the Mean Green used a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 22-21 by the three-minute media timeout.
 
On four straight possessions the teams swapped points and UL led 26-25. The Mean Green grabbed their first lead at 27-26 with 35 seconds left in the opening half on an Edwards dunk following an Mbamalu turnover.
 
Thomas registered a layup with 19 second showing to return the lead to the Cajuns, 28-27, heading into the break.
 
UL quickly stretched its lead at the start of the second half, getting a Coleby dunk and Brown baseline jumper on the first two possessions for a 32-27 edge. Mbamalu and Brown added a pair of free throws at 18:05 and 17:04 to extend the lead to 37-29.
 
NT wouldn’t allow the Cajuns to pull away just yet, as the visitors made a push with a 15-7 capped off by a Franklin layup at 11:30 which dropped the deficit to 44-42.
 
Mbamalu’s six-point swing starting with a triple with just 9:08 remaining bought the Cajuns the cushion they needed to hold off a late NT rally and pick up the key SBC victory.

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