Box Score

Courtesy: RaginCajuns.com http://www.ragincajuns.com

 

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team’s 11-game winning streak came to a halt on Sunday night, as the Cajuns fell to Western Kentucky by a final score of 81-76 at the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs, Ark.

The loss closes the Cajuns’ season with a 14-15 record after starting the year, 3-14.

WKU (16-15) started the second half with eight straight points to erase a halftime deficit and take their first lead of the game.  The Cajuns saw three shots rim-out in the first three minutes of the second frame.

Buckets from La’Ryan Gary and Josh Brown cut the Hilltoppers’ five-point lead back down to one point.  Following back-to-back timeouts, J.J. Thomas scored his first basket of the game to put UL back in front.

Gary converted a three-point play to complete the Cajuns’ 9-0 run.  With UL leading by four points, Thomas was whistled for his fourth personal foul with 13:56 still remaining in the game.

With the Cajuns trailing by one point, Thomas returned at the 7:51 mark and fouled out 46 seconds later. 

WKU scored 14 straight points to build an 11-point lead with 4:42 remaining.

Two from the stripe by Raymone Andrews and a triple by Randell Daigle brought the Cajuns back within six points with 4:22 to play.  A lay-up by Brown made it a five-point game with 2:18 showing on the clock and then a triple by Travis Bureau trimmed the score to four points at 1:57.

Unfortunately, the Cajuns ran out of time, as WKU hit six free throws in the final 30 seconds to hold off a late charge by UL.

A big first half by Sergio Kerusch cut the Cajuns 11-point lead down to just three points at the break.  He was 7-of-8 shooting, scoring 17 points in the first stanza.

The Cajuns fed off the energy from a nice contingent of fans to begin the game.  UL jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first 4:15.

Kerusch was almost all of the Hilltoppers offense for the next four minutes.  He scored five of WKU’s next six baskets to prevent the Cajuns from running away with the game.

UL boosted its’ lead to 30-19 on a three-pointer from Bureau at the 9:40 mark.

The Cajuns then went cold from the floor, hitting only one basket (on six attempts) in nearly a seven-minute span.  WKU closed to within 34-31 with three minutes remaining.­

Bureau stopped the skid with an offensive rebound and put-back.  WKU came within one point with one minute to play, but a basket by Bureau with 26 seconds remaining gave the Cajuns a 39-36 edge at the end of 20 minutes.

Brown finished with a double-double, scoring 19 and pulling down a season-high 14 rebounds, in his first double-double of the season. Joining him in double-digits were seniors Gary and Bureau, who finished with 17 and 16 points, respectively. The third senior, Daigle closed out his career with a 12-point effort.

As a team, UL shot 27-of-62 from the floor (43.5%), while WKU shot 28-of-55 (50.9%)