Men’s Basketball:Louisiana gets to 10 wins before conference play for first time since 1990-91

LAFAYETTE – Bryce Washington recorded his 10th double-double of the season, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Jay Wright added 18 points as the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team ran out and posted a 90-64 win over Pepperdine on Tuesday at the Cajundome.
 

The freshmen tandem of Jerekius Davis and P.J. Hardy each came off the bench to score 13 and 12 points respectively as Louisiana (10-3) reached the 10-win mark before opening conference play for the first time since the 1990-91 season.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns built a 15-point lead at halftime before outscoring a short-handed Pepperdine squad (4-7), 49-38, in the second half after finishing 21-for-32 (65.6 percent) from the floor and forcing 24 turnovers for the game.
 
"We wanted to win the second half and we were able to do that," head coach Bob Marlin said. "We traded buckets to start the second half after they (Pepperdine) had made five straight buckets. We called timeout and challenged the guys and they kicked it in. We got some stops and got the game going up-and-down, which is what we wanted, and broke it open."
 
Both teams traded buckets through the first five minutes of the game before a free throw by Roydell Brown gave Louisiana the lead for good, 5-4, at the 14:59 mark of the first half. The game remained close until midway through the first half before the Ragin’ Cajuns used an 8-0 run, that was capped by a layup by Davis, for a 21-12 lead with 7:54 remaining in the half.
 
After taking a 41-26 lead at halftime, the Ragin’ Cajuns pushed their lead to 53-34 after Justin Miller scored on a layup with 16:24 remaining. Pepperdine would get as close as 55-42 with 13:52 remaining after Knox Hellums sank a pair of free throws, but Louisiana would pull away with a 13-5 run, that was capped by a Washington dunk for a 68-47 cushion at the 9:46 mark.
 
Davis, who finished 5-for-8 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds, gave Louisiana its biggest lead of the game, 75-49, when he sank a 3-pointer from the right corner with 7:44 remaining.
 
Louisiana, which entered the game ranked 16th nationally in scoring offense (86.4), reached the 90-point mark for the sixth time this season when Jacob Broussard drained a 3-pointer in the final minute.
 
Chris Reyes led Pepperdine with 14 points and eight rebounds with leading scorer Lamond Murray, limited to nine points – 11 below his season average. The Waves, playing their third game of six consecutive contests on the road, held a 36-31 advantage on the glass and finished 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the floor.
 
Louisiana will return to action on Dec. 31 when it opens Sun Belt Conference play at Arkansas State. The game is set for a 5 p.m. tipoff.