Men’s Basketball: Dramatic shot has given Cajuns new life – see video

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • January 26, 2009

Click here for video: http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090126/SPORTS/901260308/1006

As the last-second 3-pointer left the hands of UL guard Randell Daigle, Cajuns coach Robert Lee watched and prayed.

Lee waited – along with the 3,700 or so fans still left in the Cajundome on Saturday night – for what seemed like an eternity until he got an answer to his prayer.

Swish.

Daigle buried the 35-footer with no time left on the clock for a 67-65 win over a South Alabama team that advanced to last season’s NCAA Tournament. The thrilling finish helped snap a three-game losing streak for UL, which finally caught a good break in a season marked by plenty of bad ones.

It was the sixth consecutive league game for the Cajuns (7-12 overall, 4-4 Sun Belt) decided in the final minutes. They beat Denver by one in double overtime on Jan. 3 before losing by three at New Orleans, winning by two at Troy and falling by eight in overtime to Arkansas-Little Rock and by five at Western Kentucky.

"One thing our basketball team will do is make it interesting," said Lee, whose team also lost 97-62 at UAB on Jan. 19. "We’ve been in position to win those games."

Mass chaos ensued after Daigle’s game-winner, which followed an off-balanced 3 by Domonic Tilford with 2.4 seconds left to give the Jaguars a one-point lead.

South Alabama guard C.J. Garner – who put a hand in Daigle’s face on the final shot – pulled off his jersey at midcourt and screamed in frustration. Players and coaches from the Cajuns bench stormed the court and mobbed Daigle, who had eight points on 2-of-11 shooting. South Alabama coach Ronnie Arrow pitched a fit and refused to leave the floor until officials reviewed the play to make sure Daigle’s shot beat the buzzer.

Officials, though, were unable to review the play because NCAA rules state that a monitor must be located on a designated courtside table. Video footage did show that the ball left Daigle’s hand with one-tenth of a second left, leaving South Alabama to shoulder the burden of the frustrating loss.

Lee did not make UL players available for comment after the game, but it’s easy to say that the final few seconds summed up the emotion of the game pretty well.

No words were needed for Cajuns guard Corey Bloom, who danced his way to the locker room after the thrill-a-second ending. Daigle was lifted on his teammates’ shoulders and anointed the school’s big man on campus until further notice.

"They (South Alabama) got a lucky bounce with Tilford’s shot, but he’s a really good player and good players get lucky bounces sometimes," Lee said. "Then we come back on the other end, and Daigle makes a shot that we hope we can look back on and say that shot really vaulted our basketball team into finishing up the season really, really strong."

The win over South Alabama might be only one game, but UL is returning to almost full strength in time to still make a late-season run.

Forwards Lamar Roberson and Jeremy Barr rejoined the team to play against South Alabama. Roberson had been suspended indefinitely one week earlier for conduct detrimental to the team. Barr had been out for personal reasons. Both made small, but vital contributions in limited minutes in the second half of the win.

Leading scorer Travis Bureau, who had been battling groin and stomach muscle injuries, returned and scored a team-high 18 points.

Last season’s top scorer Chris Gradnigo is now playing like he did at the end of his freshman season. A preseason third team all-conference selection, the sophomore guard/forward is shooting 53 percent from the field and averaging 17.6 points in the past five games.

Now Daigle is only shooting 22.7 percent and averaging 5.7 points in the past three games. But his game-winning shot against South Alabama might be enough to help the junior and his Cajuns get back on track going into Thursday’s game at Middle Tennessee.

Last season, UL wrapped up conference play by winning seven of its final 10 league games to win a share of the Sun Belt’s West Division title. So the Cajuns know a similar rally is possible again this season.

"Sometimes when you get a blessing like we got tonight, that can be all a team needs to get its confidence going," Lee said. "Hopefully, that shot tonight will give us that jolt of confidence that we need."