Men’s Basketball: 9 and doing fine

Men’s Basketball: 9 and doing fine

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • February 20, 2011

J.J. Thomas, the inspiration for UL’s "Fear the Beard" promotion Saturday night, lived up to the hype.

The freshman forward banged his way for a game-high 25 points and the Ragin’ Cajuns escaped with a 67-64 win over Western Kentucky in front of a lively crowd of 7,071 in the Cajundome.

It was UL’s ninth straight win, which is tied for the second-longest active streak in the nation with Morehead State and just behind George Mason (13 games).

"I liked ‘Fear the Beard,’ " said Thomas, who scored 15 of his points in the first half. "If everybody was coming out here for that, I’ve got to show them that I appreciate them and play hard. I needed to step my game up."

Thomas did. Again and again.

Before the fifth-largest home crowd in Cajundome history, Thomas scored 13 points in the first eight minutes to spark the Cajuns (12-14, 9-5 Sun Belt) to an early 19-6 advantage.

WKU (13-14, 7-7) wiped away a 17-point deficit during the second half by collapsing in the paint to surround Thomas whenever he got the ball, but his bucket with 7:36 left gave UL the lead for good. The Opelousas native later converted a three-point play when the preseason Sun Belt East Division favorite Hilltoppers cut their deficit to 61-59 on Caden Dickerson’s 3 with 2:33 to go.

Travis Bureau and Josh Brown both narrowly missed double-doubles for the Cajuns. Bureau had 14 points and nine rebounds, and Brown added 11 points and nine rebounds.

But Thomas was obviously the man of the hour as a number of people in attendance paid homage to him by sporting beards — fake and real. University president Dr. E. Joseph Savoie was still wearing his fake beard long after the game was over.

UL’s win streak is the longest for the program since winning 10 straight in the 1999-2000 season.

"He got off to a great start," UL coach Bob Marlin said of Thomas. "He tipped in shots around the basket, made some jumpers and finished a couple of plays."

With the win the Cajuns remained in a tie for second place in the Sun Belt’s West Division with Arkansas State (15-14, 9-5) after the Red Wolves beat Troy on Saturday 71-63. UL’s next opponent, Denver (13-13, 9-4), holds a half-game lead in the division going into its matchup today with South Alabama.

WKU, third in the Sun Belt’s East Division, lost to the Cajuns for the first time since the 2004-05 season. Steffphon Pettigrew led four double-digit scorers for the Hilltoppers with 18 points. Juan Pattillo added 12, while preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year Sergio Kerusch and Kahlil McDonald had 10 apiece.

"We didn’t bring enough early," WKU coach Ken McDonald said. "They had a lot of energy. It was a really disappointing first half. We didn’t understand coming in how hard this was going to be. They had a good crowd, a loud crowd, and I don’t think that we responded well in the first 20 minutes."

The crowd was treated to a game between the two hottest teams in the Sun Belt.

Going into the weekend the Cajuns had one of the nation’s longest active winning streaks — eight straight — behind only George Mason (12), Texas (11), Vermont (10) and Princeton (10). Then Texas, Vermont and Princeton all lost Saturday, leaving UL in even more select company.

WKU, which stumbled through the first half of the season, had won eight of its past 10 games.

Thomas and Bureau lifted the Cajuns to a 13-point lead nine minutes into the game. Their lead never dipped below nine for the rest of the first half as WKU trailed 38-26 at halftime.

"I really do feed off the crowd," Thomas said. "When I make a bucket and the crowd goes crazy, it gets my adrenaline flowing."

Early in the second half "Fear the Beard" cheers started to rain down from the student section, although the celebration proved to be a bit premature. After the Cajuns extended their lead to 45-28 on Bureau’s basket with 17:22 left, the Hilltoppers picked up their intensity and used a 21-4 run over the next eight minutes to tie it at 49-all.

The game appeared to be slowly slipping away from the Cajuns on the heels of an emotional win over Arkansas State on Thursday.

"I’m very proud that we dug in and started to get stops and rebounds and make hustle plays in the second half," McDonald said. "That allowed us to be in position to win the game."

After Brown’s jumper on the next possession gave the Cajuns a 51-49 lead, Pattillo hit a layup to tie it up and was fouled but missed the free throw. Thomas scored on the other end and the Cajuns stayed in control for the rest of the night.

UL gets a short break before returning to action Thursday when Denver comes to the Cajundome. It will be the final home game for Cajun seniors Travis Bureau, La’Ryan Gary and Randell Daigle, and they want to have the same result as Saturday against WKU.

"In the second half it seemed like we let up a little bit, but they came out attacking," Bureau said. "We were both playing good. At the end, we just didn’t let up."

Click here for photo gallery: http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20110220&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=102200801&Ref=PH

Athletic Network Footnote:

Click here for the photo gallery of the Jan. 21-22, 2011 Basketball Reunion

Click here for the January 18, 2003 Basketball Reunion

Click here for the Nov. 1-2, 2001 Shipley Basketball Reunion

Rebounders Club Meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd…noon, Abacus Station, 510 W. Pinhook Rd….lunch is $13
Geaux Cajuns, Karren Hays 288-2163