Men’s Basketball: Louisiana Puts The Clamps On Texas State, Earns Seventh Straight Win In 80-55 Rout

Marquetti’s career-night leads Cajuns to 13th straight SBC win dating back to last season 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Malik Marquetti came off a scoreless game on Thursday with a career-high 19 points and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns put the clamps on Texas State in claiming an 80-55 win over the Bobcats in a Sun Belt Conference game on Saturday at Strahan Coliseum.
 
Justin Miller and Frank Bartley scored 14 points each as Louisiana (17-3, 7-0 SBC) won its seventh straight game and posted its best defensive night in a road game under head coach Bob Marlin, holding Texas State (13-8, 6-2 SBC) to 32.2 percent from the floor.
 
Bryce Washington scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds for Louisiana with JaKeenan Gant adding seven points and blocking three shots in helping the Ragin’ Cajuns snap Texas State’s six-game win streak.
 
"We beat a very good basketball team," Marlin said. "They’ve won six games in a row in conference play and off to their best start in 14 years. We got ahead of them early, our defense was good and were able to hit a couple of big shots to push the lead up to 12 at the half. The second half, we got off to a quick start and kind of deflated those guys a little bit."
 
Louisiana limited Texas State to 2-for-16 from the floor in the first 10:25 of the game while opening the game on an 18-4 run. Marquetti, who was 0-for-3 from the floor in a 77-65 win at UT Arlington on Thursday, got the Ragin’ Cajuns started with a pair of 3-pointers in the game’s first 10 minutes with Bartley scoring seven and Miller one of his four 3-pointers.
 
Texas State used a 10-2 run, that was highlighted by consecutive three-point plays by Isaiah Gurley and Tre Nottingham, to close to within 20-14 with 7:11 remaining but the Ragin’ Cajuns closed out the half on a 12-6 run with Johnathan Stove capping the run with a dunk off a steal by Miller.
 
Louisiana, which finished 29-for-59 (49.2 percent) from the floor and 13-for-25 (52.0 percent) from behind the 3-point line, put the game away in the second half as it went on a 15-3 run to pull away from a 50-35 lead.
 
Miller, who finished 4-for-7 from behind the 3-point line, scored five straight points for the Ragin’ Cajuns, with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws, before Marcus Stroman and Stove scored on layups, Marquetti added a 3-pointer and Gant scored on a three-point play to push the lead to 65-38 with 7:35 left.
 
Shelby Adams led Texas State with 10 points with Alex Peacock pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Louisiana will return home for a pair of Sun Belt Conference games beginning on Thursday against South Alabama at 7:15 p.m. The Ragin’ Cajuns will close out their homestand on Saturday against defending SBC Tournament champion Troy in a 2 p.m. contest.