Randell Daigle became the 39th player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career and seven players reached double-figures as Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns upended North Texas, 93-88, at the Cajundome on Thursday night.
Daigle finished the night with 13 points, scoring 12 in the first half, to sit at 1,009 points in his four-year career.
Another Cajun also had a career night as Javan Mitchell scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting. He also tied his personal best with seven rebounds.
Travis Bureau paced the Cajuns with his third double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 boards.
Rounding out the double-figure scoring effort for the Cajuns was La’Ryan Gary with 14, Bryant Mbamalu with 12, while Josh Brown and Raymone Andrews each had 11.
Andrews was tenacious on defense, pressuring the Mean Green all night. He dished out a career-high six assists and swiped three steals without turning the ball over in 31 minutes of play.
For the game, UL shot 50.0 percent (30-60) from the floor and outrebounded UNT, 40-35.
The win marked the Cajuns’ third-straight victory as they improved to 6-14 overall and 3-5 in the league. The Mean Green fell to 16-5 and 5-3 mark in conference.
The Cajuns started the second half hot, going 3-for-3 from the floor to lead, 48-40, with 15:58 left in the contest.
The lead grew to as much as 13 points, until back-to-back three-pointers from Daigle and Andrews gave the Cajuns their largest lead of the game, 68-54, with 10:13 left.
The Mean Green was able to bring it back to single digits, 68-61, by the 8:00 mark with a quick 7-0 run.
The lead slipped to four before Bureau connected on a three-pointer and changed the momentum. The Mean Green turned the ball over on its next two trips down the floor and Gary came up with a breakaway dunk to reestablish a 75-66 lead with 5:44 remaining.
North Texas crept back to within six points two more times over the next four minutes but UL kept the visitors at bay. With 1:40 to go, the Cajuns led 85-78.
A trey from North Texas with 1:00 to go, along with a questionable blocking foul on the Cajuns put the visitors on the line with 34 seconds remaining. Two free throws later, it was a one possession game, 89-86.
A huge steal from Josh Brown with 22 seconds followed by a dunk in the waning seconds sealed the victory.
To start the game, UL raced out to an 8-3 lead in the first four minutes. But the Mean Green countered with a 7-2 run to knot the contest at 10-10 by the 13:46 mark.
The Cajuns began to pull ahead with 6-0 run. Travis Bureau scored four of the six, including a monster dunk from the baseline. A bucket from Javan Mitchell put UL in front 16-10 with 11:27 remaining.
The Mean Green brought it back to within one point but a 9-2 run from the Cajuns stretched the lead to 25-17 at the 8:00 mark.
At 6:04 in the first half, Daigle made history scoring his 1,001th career point. Daigle tallied another basket and dished an assist on an alley-oop to Brown to give the Cajuns a 10-point lead, 31-21, with just under five minutes remaining.
But the Mean Green would not go away, pulling back to within three points with just over two minutes remaining.
UL maintained the advantage over the final two minutes and took a 38-35 lead into the break.
The Cajuns will now head to Mobile, Ala. for their first televised game of the season. UL will face South Alabama at 4 p.m. CT on Sunday. The game will be carried on CST/CSS. Check with your local cable provider for channel availability.
