Ragin' Cajuns dump UNO

<i>Louisiana explodes in second half to even all-time series</i><blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns can be a scary bunch when they hit their rhythm.

The New Orleans Privateers found that out before 6,033 fans at the Cajundome and a regional TV audience on Saturday night as the Cajuns used an eye-catching 19-2 scoring binge to pull away for an 80-68 victory.

UNO crept within 51-49 of UL with 12:33 to play, but Tiras Wade's lone 3-point basket of the contest sparked the 19-2 breakout that he capped by scoring inside off a steal with 7:26 left to play.

The victory improved coach Robert Lee's squad to 15-8 and 9-2 in Sun Belt Conference play, still tied with Denver atop the Western Division race, while UNO fell to 11-13, 6-5.

"Nah, we weren't worried (at 51-49)," said senior Dwayne Mitchell, one of five UL regulars in double digits with 19 points. "We knew we had to play defense.

"We believe we're the best defensive team in the league."

"That's how we make our living," UL coach Robert Lee said. "If we're going to win anything this year it's going to be on defense. When we get stops we can get into our transition game."

"We just needed to buckle down," Orien Greene said. "We had to settle down and regroup. That (19-2) was all triggered by our defense. Sometimes we lose focus and we just need a timeout. Then we just ignite.

"Once we get going, there's nothing stopping us."

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Bruce Brown
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"Their size and quickness really affect us," UNO coach Monte Towe said. "We talked about eliminating the easy baskets but weren't able to do that.

"When it was 51-49, we missed some shots and had some turnovers. That's the thing about their team. You can be gliding along fine, then have a turnover and you look up and they're up 6 or 8 points.

"They're an explosive team. They really get out. They're one of the best at converting turnovers into points."

In Towe's eyes, the Cajuns are one of the Sun Belt's finest squads.

"They're playing as good as any team in the league right now," Towe said. "Their starting five is a strong, strong group, and they can hurt you from anywhere on the floor. They're all doing a good job."

New Orleans leader Bo McCalebb led all scorers with 23 points, but 4 of those came in the final seconds. He managed to hit 7-of-23 shots, but was 5-of-20 when UL was ahead 76-56.

"We have a lot of big guards," Mitchell said. "We tried to force Bo to take a lot of jump shots, and if he penetrates we know we have helpside defense. We wanted to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible."

"We were focused on keeping Bo out of the lane," Greene said. "Then we swarmed to the ball. We knew we had help."

That was more help than McCalebb got, as he was UNO's only double-digit scorer in a school-record tying 13th straight 20-plus scoring night. The Cajuns, meanwhile, put those five starters in double figures with Wade's 20 leading the way.

"Tiras's 3-pointer really got us jump-started," Lee said. "When he makes shots, it energizes us.

"We have to be more consistent shooting the ball (UL hit just 39 percent). Our offense is hit-or-miss. If we were going to win, we were going to go on the other end and make stops."

The Cajuns' quickness also helped them get to the free throw line, where they hit 30-of-35 attempts (85.7 percent). In a 72-67 win earlier this season in New Orleans, UL was 23-of-27 with a 19-of-20 second half.

"We haven't had much luck keeping them off the free throw line," Towe said. "They not only shot a lot of free throws, they also made a lot of free throws."

"If we continue to shoot free throws like that, I don't think there's anyone who can beat us," said Lee, who was relieved when his team executed that deciding surge.

"It was great to see," Lee said. "There's nothing like winning to make everyone happy."

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