Men’s Basketball: Louisiana Wins Eighth Straight; Leads Wire-To-Wire In 91-83 Win Over Tech

Cajuns open game with 26-6 run in securing third win in last four meetings against Bulldogs 

 LAFAYETTE – Bryce Washington posted his eighth double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns scored 31 points off 21 Louisiana Tech turnovers to record its eighth straight victory with a 91-83 decision on Saturday at the Cajundome.
 
Frank Bartley scored 18 points for Louisiana (8-2), which opened the game with a 26-6 run and eclipsed the 90-point mark for the fourth straight game. Jay Wright and freshman Justin Miller each scored 14 points for Louisiana with freshman P.J. Hardy scoring all 11 of his points in the second half, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers.
 
Bartley, the second-leading scorer in the Sun Belt Conference, scored nine points in the opening run for Louisiana with Washington adding seven. Miller added four points in part of 11 straight points scored by Louisiana after Louisiana Tech (5-4) cut the lead to 15-6 on a bucket by Joniah White with 14:29 remaining in the first half.
 
A baseline jumper by Johnathan Stove gave Louisiana its biggest lead of the game – 26-6 – with 10:13 left in the first half before Miller would later sink a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 43-31 lead at the break.
 
Louisiana Tech threatened in the second half behind the shooting of Jacobi Boykins, who scored all 21 of his points in the game’s final 9:19. Boykins finished 7-for-11 from the floor and 7-for-10 from behind the 3-point line as Louisiana Tech got as close as 86-83 with 31 seconds remaining before a free throw by Stove and a key steal by Wright that would lead to a Bartley layup helped seal the win.
 
Louisiana, ranked 18th nationally in field goal percentage (.500) entering the game, finished 35-for-65 (53.8 percent) from the floor to eclipse the 50-percent mark for the third time in the last four games. The Ragin’ Cajuns collected 14 steals in the game with Bartley tying a career-high with five and Washington adding three.
 
Erik McCree posted a double-double for Louisiana Tech with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. DaQuan Bracey added 13 points for the Bulldogs, who dropped their fourth game away from home this season.
 
Louisiana will return to action on Wednesday (Dec. 14) when it visits SEC member Georgia in a 5 p.m. CST contest in Athens, Ga. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.