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Holding a 15-point lead with 15 minutes to go, UL appeared to be on its way Thursday night to an easy win over Sun Belt West Division leader Arkansas-Little Rock.
Then the Trojans rewrote the script in a rematch between last season's West Division co-champions.
Instead of moving into a two-way tie with UALR atop the division, the Cajuns unraveled down the stretch and suffered one of their most frustrating losses in recent memory, 79-71, in overtime. The Trojans closed the second half with a 26-11 run to force overtime before scoring the first 10 points in the extra session on their way to a fourth straight win in the series.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090116/SPORTS/901160330/1006" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Joshua Parrott •
jparrott@theadvertiser.com • January 16, 2009
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The loss dropped UL (6-10 overall, 3-3 Sun Belt) two games behind UALR in the league standings with two-thirds of the conference schedule to go.
"We had the momentum," said UL guard/forward Chris Gradnigo, who scored a game-high 20 points. "Little Rock just wanted it more.
"They came out and out-played us the last 10 minutes."
While Gradnigo said the locker room was quiet for the Cajuns after the loss, UALR's players and coaches celebrated the hard-fought victory on the road. The Trojans (12-5, 5-1) won the rebound battle, 40-26, and got huge nights from forwards John Fowler and Shane Edwards in the paint.
Fowler scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help offset the suspension of leading rebounder Mike Smith. He also played strong defense in the final 25 minutes on Gradnigo, who scored only four points against the gritty defender after halftime.
Edwards added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Both Fowler and Edwards benefited from the play of guard Steven Moore, who had 16 points and nine assists as UALR won its third straight in the Cajundome.
"You've got to make stops and rebound to win games," said UALR coach Steve Shields. "We just found a way to do what had to be done."
Meanwhile, UL struggled to do so.
The Cajuns led, 50-35, with 15:24 left in regulation when UALR turned the tide. Moore was unable to get off a 3-pointer that would have won it in the closing seconds of regulation, but the Trojans finally put the game away early in overtime.
"When Little Rock was down 15, they just got tougher," said UL guard Randell Daigle, who had 14 points. "As a team, we didn't get tougher with them.
"We played the same way as if we were still up by 15."
Afterward, the final numbers told the true story. UL shot 54.2 percent in the first half but made only 37.8 percent of its shots the rest of the way. That included a 2-for-15 showing in the final 10 minutes of regulation.
UALR shot 44 percent in the opening half but got even hotter in crunch time. The Trojans made 16-of-23 shots in the final 25 minutes.
"We played really well for 30 minutes, but Little Rock really made some big plays down the stretch," UL coach Robert Lee said. "We had chances, but we didn't take advantage of it."
UL, which tied a school record with 15 3-pointers last week in a win over Troy, hit 11 against UALR. But the Cajuns got out-scored 21-10 at the free-throw line.
Now UL heads on the road next week to play UAB on Monday and Western Kentucky on Thursday after the frustrating loss at home.
"We just didn't close out the game," Daigle said. "We were up eight at the half and went up 15, but we couldn't keep the lead.
"We're not focusing once we start building a lead into the second half as the game is winding down, and it's hurting us bad right now."
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