Men’s Basketball: Cajuns just one step away from The Big Dance with 73-72 win

Tim Buckley, Daily Advertiser, March 16, 2014

NEW ORLEANS — When the Sun Belt Conference Tournament’s bracket was set last weekend, UL coach Bob Marlin liked what he saw right away.

He envisioned immediately a trip to the tourney’s final game for his No. 3 seed Ragin’ Cajuns.

And they took care of getting there with a 73-72 semifinal-round win Saturday over No. 2 seed Western Kentucky that was boosted by 23 points apiece from Elfrid Payton and Bryant Mbamalu, two big buckets late from Payton and Payton’s game-saving defensive stop on T.J. Price as time wound down.

The reward for the 22-11 Cajuns is an ESPN2-televised championship game against No. 1 seed Georgia State at noon today, and it’s one that comes with plenty at stake against a GSU club that has beaten UL twice already this season.

“Only one game to go,” said Mbamalu, who scored 18 of his 23 in the opening half at Lakefront Arena here. “If by God’s grace we win it, we go dancing.”

In the big ballroom.

The Sun Belt’s title game comes with an automatic NCAA Tournament bid for the winner, and the Cajuns – also second-round winners over Texas-Arlington on Friday night – claimed the right to play in it by holding off a late comeback bid by the two-time defending tourney-champion Hilltoppers.

WKU closed an 11-point UL lead with just more than two minutes left in the first half to five at the break, with the Cajuns – who haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2005 – up 42-37.

UL took off on an 11-0 run capped by a J.J. Davenport jumper with just under six minutes to go, and stretched its advantage to 10 when Payton – the Sun Belt’s steals leader – intercepted a pass to halfcourt and dunked to make it 65-55 with 5:25 remaining.

WKU wasn’t quite done yet, though, and led by three, 72-69, following a George Fant free throw with 2:09 left.

“We knew they were gonna make a run,” Mbamalu said. “I mean, they’ve won this tournament the last two years. They’re not gonna lay down. I just told Elfrid (Payton), and I told everybody, ‘Stay locked in, stay aggressive and keep our head.’ It was easy to get anxious, but we just wanted to stay aggressive and stay in the attack mode.”

With big man Shawn Long limited to nine points, just three rebounds and 19 minutes of play because of the same sort of foul trouble that Payton had experienced the night before, Payton followed the instructions of senior Mbamalu and took over.

The first team All-Belt point guard from John Ehret High scored in the lane to make it 72-71 Hilltoppers with 1:49 to go, then – after O’Karo Akamune missed two critical free throws – drove one possession later to make it 73-72 Cajuns with 1:16 left.

“Elfrid’s gonna have the ball (there),” said Marlin, whose club – 1-2 against WKU this season – went past midnight before beating UTA in Friday’s late-starting game.

“He (Payton) was dead-tired, but he’s made enough plays to get us to this stage, and we’re gonna rest with him. There’s no one else I’d rather have going down the stretch there.”

Ditto for the other end, one can only suspect.

After an exchange of misses – one by Fant thanks to an Elridge Moore block, the other a pullup jumper by Payton that fell short – Price took off with the rebound of Payton’s miss and raced downcourt.

WKU coach Ray Harper eschewed a timeout, and second team All-Sun Belt pick Price drove down the right side with only Payton – the Sun Belt’s Defensive Player of the Year – to beat.

“I didn’t think anyone was ahead of Payton,”

Harper said, “and with his (Price’s) strength and ability to drive we had a great opportunity to get an easy one.”

Price and Fant each had 16 points for the 20-12 Hilltoppers, but Price couldn’t get the most important two to drop.

“If we had called timeout,” Harper said, “we probably would have tried to put the ball in T.J.’s (Price’s) hands – or George (Fant’s).

“If he (Price) could have turned it about another half-step,” he added, “he had him, probably, a bucket. … Once the ball went up, time was out, so probably weren’t gonna get a much better (chance).”

Price’s shot slicing from the baseline with one second left missed over the rim, however, and Payton avoided being tagged with a foul, giving UL the win.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Payton said of nothing being called. “I thought I got hit on my arm on the possession before, so down the stretch I think they (referees) were gonna let us play it out.

“I did my best to keep my hands straight up, and they didn’t make a call.

“I tried my hardest to cut off the baseline,” Payton added, saying it’s something the Cajuns practice all the time. “I didn’t actually (get) there, but he (Price) pulled up and … I tried to make it as tough a shot as possible. And he missed it, luckily.”