Men’s Basketball: Cajuns Grab Overtime Win Over Denver in Thrilling Fashion

Box Score

A foul called on Denver’s Royce O’Neale with 0.4 seconds left in overtime sent Elfrid Payton to the free throw line where he calmly made the first attempt to break a tie and give the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team a 72-71 victory Thursday evening at the Cajundome.
 
The game-deciding play came after Raymone Andrews stole the ball from O’Neale as the Pioneers were playing for a potential go-ahead basket. Andrews flipped the ball to Payton who raced in for a layup and drew the foul.
 
Just 16 seconds earlier, it was Payton driving through the lane for layup that pulled Louisiana (13-11, 7-3 Sun Belt) into a 71-all tie. Prior to that, the Cajuns had gone scoreless in the extra session since a Josh Brown basket at the 4:05 mark.
 
Payton finished with a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Brown contributed a game-high 21 points.
 
The Cajuns posted their third straight victory and 20^th in the last 22 Sun Belt contests at the Cajundome. Louisiana pulled within one-half game of SBC West leader UALR (7-2 SBC) who was idle Thursday evening.
 
Denver (16-7, 6-4 Sun Belt) dropped a road contest for the third straight outing. The Pioneers were led by O’Neale who tied Brown for game-high honors with 21 points.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns travel to Troy, Ala., on Friday for a meeting with the Trojans. Game time on Saturday from Sartain Hall is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
DU used a Justin Coughlin triple at 13:24 for a 47-44 lead. That was the first of six straight scoring possessions in which the teams swapped baskets, the last an Alan-Michael Thompson three-pointer that brought UL within one point, 52-51, with 10:58 left to play.
 
Free throws following a technical foul and personal foul pulled the Cajuns ahead 53-52. On the ensuing possession, Payton collected a steal and converted a three-point play to stretch the lead to 56-52 with 10:26 remaining.
 
Denver used a 6-0 run over the next minute to grab the lead again one which they held on to until a triple by Brown drew Louisiana even at 63-all with 3:25 on the clock.
 
Andrews made the first two free throw attempts of a three-shot foul to forge a 67-all tie. He missed the last attempt and each team up empty of a possession in the final minute resulting in the third overtime game in the last four meetings at the Cajundome between the two schools.
 
The Cajuns improved to 12-1 at the Cajundome vs. Denver, posting a win for the seventh straight meeting. With a move to the WAC next season, Thursday’s game was the final visit for the Pioneers as a Sun Belt school.
 
Louisiana improved to 3-0 in overtime this season and have now won the past five overtime games under the direction of head coach Bob Marlin.
 
UL opened a quick 4-0 lead in the game’s first minute with an inside basket from Kadeem Coleby and baseline drive by Brown.
 
A Brown offensive rebound and putback pushed the Cajuns lead to 9-5 at 15:51. The Pioneers followed up back-to-back UL misses with three-pointers on two straight possessions to claim an 11-9 lead by the 14:16 mark.
 
The teams swapped four-point swings over the next three minutes with the Cajuns getting two free throws from Darshawn McClellan and a Brown basket and the Pioneers netting freebies from Brian Stafford and a Chris Udoifa fadeaway jumper.
 
Louisiana drew even at 15-all at 11:48 with two Payton free throws and again at 16-all with a J.J. Thomas freebie at 10:25. An O’Neale layup at 10:14 returned the lead to Denver at 18-16.
 
Following an Andrews basket at 9:02 which made it 19-18, the Cajuns would go without a field goal make until the three-minute media timeout. DU stretched the lead up to six points, 26-20, following a backdoor layup from Olson with 4:45 remaining in the opening stanza.
 
UL rebounded from the field goal drought with makes on the first four touches coming out of the timeout. Payton drove into the lane and scored a layup at 1:37 and added the free throw to complete the three-point play which cut the deficit to 31-30.
 
The Cajuns had a couple of close looks at the basket inside of a minute, but couldn’t convert. The Pioneers had the ball last and wound up getting an O’Neale layup off an offensive rebound as the horn sounded for a 33-30 halftime edge.
 
It was a similar start as the first half for UL in the opening minutes of the second stanza. Coleby and Brown provided baskets for a 34-33 lead by the 19:27 mark.
 
DU reclaimed the lead 37-35 at 17:58 with the second of Chase Hallam layups on consecutive possessions. The Pioneers took advantage of a missed field and Cajuns turnover out of the 15-minute timeout and got a pair of O’Neale layups that stretched their lead to 44-38 by the 14:54 mark.
 
The Cajuns responded with a 6-0 run capped off by a Payton finger roll at 13:38 that evened the score at 44-all.

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