4 points in final 6 minutes - UL loses season opener

[NewsCopy]

  UL – Louisiana Tech outscored Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team 13-4 in the final six minutes to rally and escape the CAJUNDOME with a 61-59 victory in the 2008-09 season opener for both teams.

The Bulldogs, which trailed Louisiana since the 5:48 mark of the first half, trailed 55-48 with six minutes remaining. Five points from Jamel Guyton – a three-pointer at 5:38 and two free throws at 5:07 – cut the Cajuns lead to 55-53.

Travis Bureau made a layup at 4:45 to push UL’s lead to 57-53. That would be the final field goal make for the Cajuns until 14 seconds remained and Tech reeled off eight unanswered to steal the game.

With 1:00 remaining, Magnum Rolle pulled Tech even at 57-all with a jumper. Rolle then stole the basketball from Tyren Johnson and raced in for a slam dunk which put Tech in front 59-57. Ryan McCoy missed a jumper for Louisiana on the ensuing possession and Rolle nabbed the defensive rebound. The Cajuns were forced to foul which led to two freebies by Guyton upping the Bulldogs lead to 61-57.

The Cajuns marched up the court and Willie Lago cut through the lane for a layup which was good and made it 61-59. Louisiana Tech tried a homerun pass for a quick score but the pass was overthrown and landed out-of-bounds giving the Cajuns possession.

The Cajuns called a timeout. Bureau was given the ball and he rolled around a screen for an open look at a go-ahead triple, but the shot bounced off the rim and Rolle grabbed another key defensive rebound.

Guyton paced Louisiana Tech and all scorers with 27 points. The Cajuns were led by Bureau’s 19 and 11 points from La’Ryan Gary.

Louisiana played the game without returning starters Randell Daigle (hand injury) and Chris Gradnigo (elbow injury).

Bureau’s first triple of the game broke a 2-all tie at 18:35. Tech got a jumper from Kenneth Cooper at 16:37 to make it a 5-4 Cajuns lead.

A Johnson steal on Tech’s next possession led to Barr converting a turnaround hook shot at 16:04 for a 7-4 edge. Louisiana had three steals by the first media timeout.

A pair of freebies from Olu Ashaolu pulled the Bulldogs within one at 14:29. UL fed the ball inside to Jeremy Barr who scored in the paint at 14:19 creating a three-point lead again.

Louisiana hit a cold spell, shooting 1-of-6 over the next three-plus minutes and Tech was able to draw even at 9-all by the 13:04 mark.

Bureau ended the Cajuns drought at 10:49 when he connected on a three-point basket at the top of the key to give UL a 12-9 advantage. Guyton answered for Tech at 10:27 with a triple and the teams were even once again.

Neither team gained an advantage larger than one point for the next three minutes. UL kept Tech off the scoreboard with a defense that had picked up seven steals and forced nine turnovers. Tech was able to keep the Cajuns from pulling away with a defense that had UL shooting 5-of-17 (29 percent) through the 7:58 mark of the opening half.

Louisiana broke a 20-all tie with a 5-0 run during the five minute mark. Bureau’s third 3-pointer of the game came at 5:48 and made it 23-20. Brandon Dison grabbed a missed basket by Guyton and started the Cajuns up floor where Colby Batiste buried a hook shot at 5:09.

The Cajuns held on to the lead the remainder of the half. Twice the Bulldogs would close within three, but a Bureau inside basket at 1:24 followed by a Corey Bloom three-point make with 50 second remaining. Bloom’s bucket created the 32-26 halftime lead Louisiana held.

Bureau led Louisiana with 12 points in the opening stanza. He also had four of the Cajuns’ eight steals.

The Cajuns were able to open their halftime edge by shooting 6-of-12 (50 percent) in the final 7:58. Defense was strong for UL in the first 20 minutes – the Cajuns forced Tech into 13 turnovers and held them to only 16 field goal attempts.

Louisiana returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 18 as Lamar visits the CAJUNDOME. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m., for a meeting between former American South-and Sun Belt-rivals which haven’t met since December 1999.

RaginCajuns.com

[DestinCajun]

"Guyton paced Louisiana Tech and all scorers with 27 points."

He was definitely ELITE but that's all I saw from the Texsters.
No doubt their two big men will get better as the season goes on but they were not impressive last night.

[Ken_Horndawgs]

True that....everybody needs help from the PG position....turnovers killed us in the first half. Later we moved Guyton over to PG and the whole team played better.

We need to work on passing and free throws. Passing will be helped with PG play, freethrows have no excuse.

The Cajun defense inside was good. Rolle was quiet until the final minutes when he made some clutch plays.

It was a fun trip to the Cajun dome, even though I was ____ed off for 90% of the game because we were losing until the end.

I hated the "1-2-3 Cajun Basketball" cheer. I think it should be cleaned up because it's too garbled. Maybe shorten it to "Cajun ball"

I liked the idea of the Rage Cage for the student section.

The fans could have been more vocal toward the end of the game. They cheered like crazy after a dunk but then got quiet in the critical stretch period.

[geo_cajun]

Daigle and Gradnigo, you are greatly missed. Please get health soon!!! I saw a lot of effort, and also a lot of missed opportunities. Hopefully we will learn from the loss and move forward. I will never understand the student section. It is better than in years past but they still don't know how to cheer the team, they only know how to cheer a play. Nonetheless it was a disappointing loss, but an excellent opportunity for the team to grow.

[rhineaux]

I hated the "1-2-3 Cajun Basketball" cheer. I think it should be cleaned up because it's too garbled. Maybe shorten it to "Cajun ball"

I liked the idea of the Rage Cage for the student section.

The fans could have been more vocal toward the end of the game. They cheered like crazy after a dunk but then got quiet in the critical stretch period. _

You're not the only one who dislikes the "1-2-3" thing that the announcer does. The "Cajun Ball" cheer was something that I think the band started, and now the PA guys feel the need to say 1-2-3. I think someone once said that they were told to do that, but it sounds ridiculous. they should let the band figure out how to do their own cheer. Before the 1-2-3 started, it was catching on nicely. Now, everyone waits for the PA guy to count for them. It totally backfired.

Other than that, I was extremely disappointed with the crowd. There was no energy in the place. I've never seen that many people so eager for the team to make their first shot so they can plop their fat asses back in their seats. any time the Cajuns start to get on a roll and the crowd gets into it, the other coach just needs to call a timeout because the fans can't keep any type of noise going through the TO or re-energize after the TO. And what's the point of naming the Student Section if nothing is going to be done about it? they threw out about 30 little white towels that said something about the Rage Cage. That's it. and shocker, there are still families with little children sitting in the Student Section. I'm not even sure why they call it a Student Section. they should call it a General Admission Section where students can sit, because there's certainly nothing special about it.

I hope they continue to work to make the atmosphere in that place a lot better, because from what I saw on Saturday, there's not much of a Home Court Advantage at the CajunDome.

[DestinCajun]

I've never seen that many people so eager for the team to make their first shot so they can plop their fat asses back in their seats.

Certainly it's far, far better to open the season with an elite program like LaTex rather than Oklahoma Southeastern Panhandle Valley Institute of Cosmetology or whomever and even though I really wanted to see a big win, the game really didn't mean all that much. It's still football season. Most all the hardcore fans that usually surround me were not there. There were no conference or tournament implications. We were short a good bit of our team and/or playing walking wounded. All of that sort of conspired to keep my fat ass in my seat more than usual.

[MetryCajun]

_ Daigle and Gradnigo, you are greatly missed. Please get health soon!!! I saw a lot of effort, and also a lot of missed opportunities. Hopefully we will learn from the loss and move forward. I will never understand the student section. It is better than in years past but they still don't know how to cheer the team, they only know how to cheer a play. Nonetheless it was a disappointing loss, but an excellent opportunity for the team to grow. _

The few times I saw the Cajuns play last year I came away with the feeling that we had a lot of good players, but not a lot of finishers. Many times I saw good one on one play or a good screen only to see a brick thrown up. It sounds like the Tech game was similar to what I have experienced. Right now we have the athletes to compete, but not enough of our athletes can shoot a basketball. Hopefully Gradnigo can bring some shot making to the team.

[Frenchie35]

The last five minutes of the game was the killer. We stopped doing the things that gave us a 10 point lead. We slowed down the game and started doing set plays that don't work. Don't go in a huddle and say "you go here and you cross there and I will try to get it to him". We lost the game right there.......

[NCAA or BUST]

Jay walker said it was all based on the two teams shooting percentage, don't know if I buy it.

[CajunAmos]

Jay walker said it was all based on the two teams shooting percentage, don't know if I buy it.

We had a couple of bad turnovers and a poor shot at the end, but we did have two or three wide open shots that didn't go down, including teh one by Bureau with less than second left. He'll make that shot more often than not. I thought our defense was much better than Techs (no offense to the Techsters), but we missed a lot of open shots during the game. I didn't see a lot of wide open shots from Techs side. With our two of our top three outside shooters out right now, we'll have to develop a more consistant inside and midrange game to continue to give us open three pointer. Making them would help also.

[skankinCajun]

[/QUOTE]
I hated the "1-2-3 Cajun Basketball" cheer. I think it should be cleaned up because it's too garbled. Maybe shorten it to "Cajun ball"

I liked the idea of the Rage Cage for the student section.

The fans could have been more vocal toward the end of the game. They cheered like crazy after a dunk but then got quiet in the critical stretch period. _
[/QUOTE]


The 1-2-3- Cajun Ball cheer is from the band. 1,2,3 was how the person leading would count it off. but i dont think the anouncer should have anything to do with it. KEEP IT WITH THE BAND.