Ragin' Cajuns Command Top Spot

<i>UL alone in first place again after Denver loss</i><blockquote><p align=justify>Apparently, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns have it, after all.

The Cajuns, awakened by comments from a New Mexico State assistant coach that they lacked a knockout punch, dismissed the visiting Aggies with a smothering 91-49 victory before 4,470 fans in the Cajundome on Thursday.

"There were some comments made that we let teams hang around too long," UL coach Robert Lee said. "Our players wanted to prove that we have a killer instinct, and put them away early."

"There were a couple of comments that we don't have a killer instinct, and Coach used that to motivate us," said Orien Greene, who had 14 points, 6 assists and 3 steals.

"The comments were on our lockers when we walked in tonight, saying we let teams hang in a little too much," Tiras Wade said. "Our last game with them was closer than it should have been (an 89-79 overtime win by UL in Las Cruces), and as good a team as we are we wanted to put them away."

The Cajuns led 45-29 at halftime as the Aggies tightened what had been a 41-21 margin by intermission. NMSU then got within 47-35 in the second half, but Wade nailed a 3-pointer at 17:27 and the Cajuns were off on a deciding 30-3 run over the next nine minutes.

The one-sided victory also vaulted the Cajuns into the lead in the Sun Belt Conference Western Division race at 16-8, 10-2, thanks also to North Texas's 68-66 win over Denver (15-9, 9-3).

That didn't stop Lee from insisting his team stay on edge with three games to go.

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Bruce Brown
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"To get to postseason, we can't lose," said Lee, whose team hosts North Texas in the home finale on Saturday. "No matter what happens, we have to find a way to win every game."

"I didn't look at the score at halftime," said Wade, the game's high scorer with 26 points. "We wanted to go out and play like it was 0-0, don't let up, and the score kept getting further and further away."

"At halftime," Greene said, "we just wanted to bury them. Coach told us to finish it, and play a full 40 minutes."

"I told them at half that, the way we're playing, the only team that can beat us is us," Lee said. "We were challenged, and I was very happy to see our guys respond. It was our most complete game of the season."

"It was a tough night," NMSU head coach Tony Stubblefield said. "Louisiana took the fight to us. We got in an early hole and couldn't overcome it.

"They were much more aggressive defensively than in our game in Las Cruces. And they have those 6-3, 6-4 guards pressuring our 5-9 guys, and when they're so physical it makes it hard."

"We ran a straight man-to-man without switching in that first game, so we had problems guarding their perimeter people," Lee said. "Tonight, each time they came off the screen, we just switched it. I think we took them out of their comfort zone."

There was nothing comfortable about the NMSU experience Thursday night, as Dwayne Mitchell added 14 points and Brian Hamilton 11 in the runaway.

Winning by 42 gave Wade time to critique his shot after making 9-of-16 from the floor but just 3-of-8 treys.

"It didn't feel like 26 points," Wade said. "I'm still shooting horrible on my 3-point shot."

"Actually," Lee said, "the only comment in the paper Tiras saw was where they said he was a really good shooter. We told him he hadn't shot that well the last couple of games, but I thought he was better tonight."

That 10th league win gave the Cajuns a Sun Belt-record six straight years of double-digit conference campaigns.

"I think that's a tribute to the job Jessie Evans did when he was here, and also to the players we've had here," Lee said. "We've showed what the program can be, but I think we've only scratched the surface."

The thought of the Cajuns improving further after a 42-point blowout could be bad news for the rest of the Sun Belt.

"Our players didn't say much when they saw the comments," Lee said. "They just said, 'Coach, we'll show 'em.' "
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