Men’s Basketball: Rice Slides By Louisiana in Final Five Minutes

LAFAYETTE – A five-minute scoring lull made the difference in a see-saw battle between the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team and Rice in a first round game of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament at the Cajundome that the Owls claimed 68-63.

Josh Brown connected on a trey with 6:19 remaining to give Louisiana (16-16) a 54-51 lead. That would be the Cajuns final bucket until a Brown layup at 1:13. In the meantime, the Owls (18-15) scored 12 unanswered points to grab a 63-54 lead

UL made a push in the final 30 seconds to trim the deficit to a one-possession game. Brown sank two free throws with 26 seconds left, then a steal on the inbounds pass led to two more free throws from Elfrid Payton which cut the Rice lead to 65-60.

Darshawn McClellan hit a three-pointer with eight seconds to pull the Cajuns within three points at 66-63. The Owls put the ball into the hands of Tamir Jackson and he made both free throws to secure the victory.

The loss brings an end to the 2011-12 season for Louisiana. Wednesday’s game marked the first postseason game on campus since hosting Florida at Blackham Coliseum in the 1985 NIT and the was Cajuns’ first postseason appearance since the 2002-03 season.

“I felt like we came out of the gates pretty well early. We missed several point blank shots which could have given us a lead,” head coach Bob Marlin said. “You are not going to win many games when you shoot what we shot from the field in the second half.

“We did make a couple of baskets late. Our guys hung in there and fought hard and got it to a one possession game. With six seconds to go we still had an opportunity. Rice made the plays that they needed to make at the end of the game when they needed to make them.”

Brown led the Cajuns with a game-high 22 points. Four players scored in double figures, led by Connor Frizzelle’s 18 points off the bench, to lead the Owls’ efforts.

Louisiana left several points at the free throw line as the squad finished 13-of-28 for the contest (46.4 percent). The game got away from the Cajuns as their shooting percentage dropped in the second stanza, ending at 28.6 percent (8-of-28).

Wednesday’s game was only the second meeting between the two schools at the Cajundome. The only previous meeting came on Nov. 27, 2004 in a visit Rice made as a return game for a BracketBuster meeting in Houston the previous season.

Each team was visibly out of sync in the opening minutes and the shooting percentages were evident. UL started 2-of-8 from the floor compared to 1-of-5 for Rice.

Brown scored the game’s first four points and the score remained 4-0 until Dylan Ennis put the Owls on the scoreboard at 17:44. Still bothered by the nerves of postseason action, neither team would score until a Arsalan Kazemi dunk at 14:45 evened the score at 4-all.

Following the first media timeout both teams began to find their groove offensively as baskets were recorded on eight consecutive possessions beginning with a Julian DeBose layup at 13:39 lasting through a Jackson triple at 11:17 that gave the Owls a 17-15 edge.

The Cajuns dug out of a 20-16 deficit with an 8-0 run. Brown knocked down a jumper at 9:03 to start the rally, then Alan-Michael Thompson collected a steal and raced home for a tomahawk jam at 8:41 that knotted the score at 20-all.

Off an Owls missed shot, Thompson threw a long outlet pass to Brown who drove baseline and registered a dunk which pulled UL ahead 22-20. The run was capped off by a Kadeem Coleby dunk off another Owls miss at 7:47.

A triple by Thompson with 6:01 remaining before the half pushed the Cajuns lead to its largest margin of five points at 27-22.

A three-pointer from Donovan Williams at 2:06 broke a 29-all tie and gave UL a lead it would hold until two free throws by Kazemi gave the Owls a 33-32 advantage. That would be the halftime margin as Payton missed two free throws with 0.3 seconds showing.

The lead changed hands eight times and the score was nine times through the first 15 minutes of the second half leaving the outcome in the balance until the final minutes.

The Cajuns jumped in front 54-51 on the Brown trey at 6:19, but the Owls had a quick answer as Lucas Kuipers drained a three-pointer of his own at 5:59.

Ennis scored an inside basket with 5:03 remaining for the final lead change and the Owls held the Cajuns scoreless until 1:13 remained to lock up the victory.

— Ragin’ Cajuns —

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