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<center><table border=6><td><img src="https://forumeus.com/images/seasons/2002-03/2003-alumni-band-members-02.jpg"></td></table><br><blockquote><p align=justify>Alumni Band
<center><table border=6><td><img src="https://forumeus.com/images/seasons/2002-03/2003-alumni-band-members-01.jpg"></td></table><br><blockquote><p align=justify>Alumni Band member take a well deserved break.
<blockquote><p align=justify>ADVOCATE-BOBBY ARDOIN
LAFAYETTE -- The way guard Laurie Bridges sees it, everyone is a potential starter on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette basketball team.
Bridges certainly made that evident at the Cajundome Thursday night. Starting for the third time this season, Bridges scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds for ULL, which defeated New Mexico State 81-74 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
With an injury sidelining starting forward Anthony Johnson, the Cajuns began the game with a three-guard lineup. Bridges wanted to provide a spark.
"This team is deep with players," the junior from New Orleans said. "When one of them goes out, the other can step up."
The win was No. 100 at ULL for Cajuns' coach Jessie Evans, who began coaching the Cajuns in 1997.
ULL's victory -- the eighth in 12 games this season -- also established a Cajundome record of 15 straight victories dating back to Nov. 24, 2001.
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NMSU (8-3) had won seven of the last eight games before falling to the Cajuns. New Mexico State coach Lou Henson felt his team's 18 turnovers and the Cajuns' ability to make free throws (17-of-23) were the difference.
"I thought putting (ULL) at the line and turning the ball over were the factors that really hurt us," Henson said. "We especially did a poor job of handling (ULL's) trap (defense). We knew they would trap and they were excellent they way the trapped us when we were posting up and along the baseline.
"I thought they (ULL) were the more physical team. There's no question they have that excellent athletic ability. They were really aggressive," he said.
Evans said the physical nature of the contest didn't surprise him.
"I told my team before the start of the game they needed to be ready to strap it on and make sure their seatbelts were tightly fitted, because we were going to be in for a war," Evans said.
The Cajuns had four other players in double figures to complement Bridges' game-high scoring.
Center Michael Southall had 14 points, four blocked shots and a team-high 10 rebounds, while guard Brad Boyd and forward Cedric Williams each scored 12.
Guard Kenneth Lawrence scored 11 and have five assists and as many steals.
NMSU was led by forard James Moore (22 points and center Chris Jackson (8 points, 10 rebounds).
Guard Jason Fontenet scored 20 for the Aggies and dished off six assists.
ULL shot 50.8 percent for the game. That percentage was boosted early when the Cajuns' first eight points came on drives to the NMSU basket.
The Cajuns led for most of the first five minutes, but the Aggies, led by a pair of consecutive Fontenet 3-points, took a 19-11 advantage off a 10-0 run.
Following a tongue-lashing from Evans, ULL regained the lead after that midway through the first half when Immanuel Washington scored on a layup to make it 25-23. The score came after the Cajuns' defense forced a turnover at midcourt.
Bridges was also part of that 14-4 run, scoring twice off treys and then adding three more off a layup and a free throw.
The Cajuns never trailed after that and went into the intermission ahead 40-34.
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Thank you so much for posting the Alumni Band pictures!! We had a BLAST playing last night!!!
By the way, you wouldn't happen to have anymore, would you??
<CENTER><TABLE border=5 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 width=357><tr align=center><TD width=100><Font Color=#DC143C><b>LOUISIANA</b></Font Color=#DC143C><TD width=150><Font Color=#DC143C><b>Houston, TX</b></Font Color=#DC143C><TD width=100>HOUSTON</TD><TABLE><CENTER><TABLE border=5 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 height=0 width=345 Bgcolor= black><td><TABLE border=0 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 height=0 width=345 ><TR><TD rowspan="5" align=center><center><center> </td><td colspan="5"><center><font color = "BC8F8F"size="0"> </TD><td ROWSPAN="5" ALIGN=center WIDTH="0"><center> </TD></TR><TR align=middle><td ROWSPAN="3" width=65 ><TABLE border=4 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 height=0 width=65><td Bgcolor="696969"><font color = "DCDCDC"size="7"><center>72</center></TD></table><td width=0> </TD><td width=170><center> </TD><td width=5></TD><td ROWSPAN="3" width=65 ><TABLE border=4 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 height=0 width=65><td Bgcolor="696969"><font color = "DCDCDC"size="7"><center>56</center></TD></table><tr><TD width=0><center> </TD><TD><TABLE border=3 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 height=0 width=0><td width=245 Bgcolor="8B0000"><SPAN CLASS=winbanner><font color=#DCDCDC size="+2"><marquee scrollamount=7><i>Cedric Williams experiences wishes at Homecoming</marquee></font></SPAN></TD></TABLE><td width=5><center> </TD><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD width=190><center> </TD><TD width=0></TD></tr><td colspan="5"><center><font color = "BC8F8F"size="0"> </TD></center></table></td></table></center></center>
<blockquote><p align=justify>Advertisers-Dan McDonald
HOUSTON - Jessie Evans probably would take a Sun Belt Conference win over a career milestone, but the Louisiana head coach got both on Thursday.
Now, the fifth Ragin' Cajun coach to garner 100 career victories will be in first place in the Sun Belt race for at least a week.
The Cajuns' 81-74 home win over New Mexico State on Thursday was the league's first action of the year, and marked the eighth straight season that the Cajuns have won their Sun Belt opener. Now, Evans' charges will sit back and watch the rest of the league knock heads for the next few days.
They won't exactly be relaxing, though, as the Cajuns (8-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) play a non-conference game tonight on the road at the University of Houston (2-7), kicking off a series of four straight road games. Before the current streak ends on Jan. 15 at Providence, the Cajuns will have played nine out of 10 games away from the Cajundome.
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The Cougars have the worst record of any of those nine teams and have lost four in a row after a 62-48 Jan. 1 loss at 25th-ranked Texas Tech. However, UH has two home wins at Hofheinz Pavilion this year going into the 7:30 p.m. contest.
"They've struggled some," Evans said of the Cougars, "but at Hofheinz they're a load. They're strong inside and Louis Truscott is really playing well for them.
"What you don't want to do after you start conference play is not play good competition, but we don't have to worry about that with Houston and Providence. They're as good or better than anyone in our league, so we don't have to worry about turning our effort down."
His charges will have to worry, instead, about Truscott, a 6-7 senior forward who is averaging 16.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per outing. He leads Conference USA with six double-doubles this season including four in a row, as well as leading the league and ranking fifth nationally in rebounding.
Sophomore guard Andre Owens, a transfer from Indiana, is at 14.7 points per game including 29 three-pointers and actually has more 20-point games (three) than Truscott (two). However, the rest of third-year coach Ray McCallum's Cougars are having trouble scoring, with UH averaging only 59.2 points per game and shooting less than 40 percent from the field.
The Cajuns, on the other hand, are averaging 79 per outing over their last three wins, and aim at evening up their record on visitors' courts (2-3) in their first meeting with UH since an overtime 102-101 win in the Cajundome back in 1988. UL Lafayette has never won in Hofheinz, and Houston had won four in a row in the series prior to the last meeting.
At home, it's been a different story for the Cajuns, who have now won a record 15 straight Cajundome outings after Thursday's league-opening win. Laurie Bridges paced five starters in double figures with a career-high 21 points and also had eight rebounds against the Aggies in his third start of the season.
"It doesn't matter if I'm starting or coming off the bench," said Bridges, who missed the season's first two games with academic ineligibility. "Starting doesn't necessarily guarantee that you're going to get a lot of playing time.
"I just try to get everybody going, and I'll try to do that again Saturday. We're going to play Houston just like it's a conference game."
Michael Southall added 14 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots in Thursday's win, while Cedric Williams and Brad Boyd each had 12 and Kenneth Lawrence had 11 along with five assists and five steals. Boyd paces the squad with an 18.9 average while Southall is at 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds and Bridges is at 11.9 points.
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And you guys were great. Thanks for making it a real special game.
...BELIEVE me!! :D I had the BEST time I've had at a UL basketball game in a long time, especially with the large crowd and the GREAT play from the CAJUNS!!!Quote:
Originally posted by cajun67
And you guys were great. Thanks for making it a real special game.
<blockquote><p align=justify>Houston Chronicle -JERRY WIZIG
Rebounding dominance, point-blank scoring key Cajuns' win
Spicy as Cajun cooking, Louisiana quickly shredded any thought of a home-court advantage by the Houston Cougars to score its first victory over UH in seven tries Saturday night at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The 72-56 outcome doesn't begin to show the Sun Belt Conference team's dominance. The Cajuns outrebounded UH by a 59-37 margin and overwhelmed the Cougars 50-18 in the paint while handing them their fifth straight loss and eighth in 10 games this season.
Louisiana's 28-14 edge in offensive rebounds was another major factor for the Cajuns (9-4).
"We'd get a stop, and they'd get two or three more opportunities to score," UH coach Ray McCallum said. "We couldn't get offensive rebounds, so we couldn't fast break, and we let them get behind our defense in transition, which was a big disappointment."
Four days after shooting just 27 percent in a 62-48 loss at Texas Tech, the Cougars hit only 25.9 percent (7-of-27) in the first half before settling at 34.5 for the night. They also missed 13 of 25 free throws.
Louis Truscott led UH with 17 points, and freshman Ramon Dyer was the only other Cougar in double figures with 10. Sophomore Cedric Williams, from North Shore, had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Louisiana.
Earlier this season, the Cajuns defeated then-No. 12 Mississippi State, and they won 68-47 at Charlotte, dealing the 49ers their lowest scoring total, worst shooting (26 percent) and most one-sided loss at Halton Arena. Last season, Louisiana, formerly known as Southwestern Louisiana, finished 20-11 after losing in the first round of the NIT.
UH trailed 35-19 at halftime, and things didn't get much better for the Cougars in the second half.
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Williams and Chris Cameron scored inside for the Cajuns, and the lead grew to 57-36 with 8:20 to go. Back-to-back layins by Robert Jupiter made it 64-40 with six minutes remaining, and a 20-8 run by Louisiana pushed the margin to 68-40 as the Cougars went seven minutes between field goals.
Truscott, the nation's No. 5 rebounder, drew his second personal just 3:32 into the game and went to the bench for the next seven minutes. Jeremee McGuire and Anwar Ferguson, the other two UH frontliners, also had two fouls apiece by halftime.
"Their second-chance points killed us. We would play good defense for 35 seconds, then they would get another shot at it," said Truscott, who ended up with just five rebounds.
"We extended the floor to 94 feet with our defensive pressure and created some turnovers and got some easy baskets," Cajuns coach Jessie Evans said. "We now have two wins over Conference USA teams, and it's a source of pride to win out of conference."
McCallum agreed that his team, though reducing its turnovers to 15, still has a problem.
"Teams have pressed us," he said, "and we don't handle pressure real well."
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