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They had lost three straight and four of their previous five. They’d allowed 77 points or more in all four of those losses. They sat seventh in the Sun Belt Conference standings, actually trailing UL Monroe.
The UL Ragin’ Cajuns felt they needed to beat ULM on Saturday night, in the worst of ways.
“We talked about losing three in a row, and (about how) we had to get back on the winning side,” junior point guard Elfrid Payton. “It had to be done. It had to be done tonight.”
And it was.
The Cajuns beat the Warhawks 66-50 in front of 4,685 at the Cajundome, doing it behind 28 points that included 13-of-14 field shooting from Payton.
UL also 14 points from senior swingman Bryant Mbamalu and a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double from sophomore big man Shawn Long in his first game back after missing one for undisclosed conduct deemed detrimental to the team.
Payton scored all 26 of his floor points by attacking the basket, and didn’t rely on a single jumper for any of them, instead scoring everything on layups and a big late-first-half dunk as UL improved to 13-9 overall and 4-5 in Sun Belt play.
“I felt the lane was kind of open,” said Payton, who had a 34-point, 11-assist, 11-rebound triple-double when UL fell at ULM in double overtime back in early January. “My teammates did a good job finding me, and I was blessed enough to finish at the rim.”
ULM which got a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double from season scoring-leader Tylor Ongwae – led by as many as eight points early.
But Payton scored 15 of UL’s final 17 points of the first half, including a big dunk initiated by a Donovan Williams steal in which he drove through four Warhawks to give the Cajuns a 24-21 that they took into the break.
Mbamalu opened the second half with a 3-pointer off a scripted play, and the Cajuns soon lifted their lead to double-digits at 40-30 with a Kevin Brown steal and layup.
UL scored 50 of its 66 in the paint, with 11 points produced off ULM’s nine turnovers.
Points in transition – some off long rebounds, others stemming from steals that led to quick runouts – were the order of the night as the Cajuns also held the Warhawks (7-10, 4-5) to 35.2 percent field shooting.
“I thought our defense was outstanding,” said Cajun coach Bob Marlin, whose club next visits UT Arlington on Thursday night and Texas State on Saturday.
“I thought our guards were sensational.”
The Warhawks did get back to within four with the third of three straight Kyle Koszuta 3-pointers as the Cajuns kept losing track of the ULM shooter while pressing.
But the second of two free throws by Long gave UL a 54-44 advantage that never did dwindle back to single digits in the final 6:33.
One possession after Brown delivered a short lob to Long for a nifty dunk with 1:32 to go, Payton shot a pass down low to Xavian Rimmer, who zipped a pass along the baseline to Long for another huge dunk that made it 66-50 with 57 seconds left.
“That’s what sealed it,” Payton said of the sequence. “That kind of broke their back.”
So did Payton’s aggressive offensive and Long’s determined rebounding.
Payton’s 13-of-14 shooting left him one make shy of tying Long’s school record for field-goal percentage in a game.
“The one shot he missed was a play I drew up to try to get him a post-up there, and he forced that one a little bit,” Marlin said. “So if I would have left him alone, he would have shot 100 percent.”
Long, who didn’t play in last Thursday’s loss at UALR because of his suspension, came off the bench Saturday.
He shot only 5-for-14 from the field, but helped UL out-rebound ULM 34-31 while collecting his 12th double-double in 21 games this season.
Long also had four blocks, tying his own school record for dunks in a season with 65.
“I did challenge him (Long) at halftime,” Marlin said. “I said, ‘You know, this is three games that you’ve not had a dunk or a 3-point shot.’ … He certainly finished with a couple big-time dunks.”
Marlin’s reminder evidently hit home.
“I feel I had maybe two guys hanging on me. But I’ve got to play through that,” said Long, who seemed frustrated down low much of the night.
“So I figured if it wasn’t that – you know, I wasn’t getting a call – I (should try to) to affect the game in other way, by rebounding.
“Coach asked me to get a couple dunks to get the momentum going,” he added, “so when I finished that one (from Brown) it felt pretty good. I did that for him.”
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