UL's first half jitters overshadow second half heroics in 2 point loss to LSU
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns put together a 9-0 and then a 7-0 run late in the second half to cut into a 14-point deficit, but LSU got the answers they needed in the final minutes to hold on for an 81-79 victory here New Year’s Eve afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Cajuns’ second run dropped a 72-62 deficit down to three points after a Randell Daigle jumper with 1:57 remaining. Chris Johnson nabbed an offensive rebound and made a putback at 1:33 to begin LSU’s series of answers in the final two minutes.
Chris Gradnigo then nailed a trey at 1:15 to cut the deficit to 74-72. The Tigers followed suit with a pair of free throws by Tasmin Mitchell with 55 seconds left.
The decisive stretch came after Daigle made one-of-two free throws with 47 seconds remaining. The Tigers (11-1) found Mitchell in the lane for a jumper with 25 ticks left to open a two-possession game.
Louisiana (4-8) wouldn’t go away quietly. Daigle made his fourth trey of the contest at 12 seconds slicing the LSU lead to 78-76. UL quickly fouled Marcus Thornton one second later and he made two clutch free throws for the Tigers to create another two possession game at 80-76.
The Cajuns went for a quick answer, but a turnover gave LSU the ball back and sealed up the victory for the hosts.
Daigle led UL with a career-high 24 points in 26 minutes. The junior sharpshooter ended the game 5-of-8 from three-point range. His fifth triple of the game came at the final horn to create the final score and tie his career-high for 3-point baskets made.
Daigle, who returned Monday at Tennessee, is now shooting 9-of-14 from three-point land in only two games back from a hand injury.
The Tigers received a game-high 25 points from Mitchell. Bo Spencer scored 20 to form a solid one-two punch for LSU.
It was a great comeback for the Ragin’ Cajuns who found themselves trailing 67-53 with 7:15 left in the game. UL ended the game outscoring LSU 26-14.
“We played hard,” said Cajuns head coach Robert Lee. “Our guys kept fighting and fighting and started knocking down shots and put ourselves back into position to wing the game.”
A close loss might have been a victory had it not been for a scoreless stretch from the 18:34 mark of the second half through the 14:30 mark. During the time, LSU ran off a 10-0 run after a La’Ryan Gary hook shot allowed UL to trim the LSU lead to 40-36. In that time frame, the Cajuns turned the ball over twice and did not get off a single field goal attempt.
The loss was the fourth straight for Louisiana and dropped the team to a season-high four games below .500. LSU picked up its fourth win over UL since the series resumed in 2001 and now holds a 35-10 all-time lead.
After a UL timeout, Ryan McCoy put the Cajuns in the lead early with a triple on the left wing that gave the visitors a 5-4 lead at 17:40. LSU then bolted off on an 8-0 run which turned the deficit into a 12-5 lead by the 15:05 mark and forced another timeout by UL. The Tigers were shooting 6-of-8 and had six assists at that point.
Down 14-7, the Cajuns forced LSU into back-to-back scoreless possessions. Travis Bureau hit a jumper in the lane at 13:17 cutting the deficit to 14-9. After a Tigers’ turnover the Cajuns picked up a couple of offensive rebounds and later swung the ball around to Gary for a three-point make on the left wing at 12:20 and it was 14-12.
LSU came back and 20 seconds later Bo Spencer drained a trey of his own to stretch the lead back to five points. Spencer was fouled on LSU’s next touch and he made both free throws to up the LSU lead to 19-12.
The Ragin’ Cajun then forced the Tigers into three straight scoreless possessions, but could only get a pair of free throws from Gary at 10:22. Inside of 10 minutes, Johnson grabbed hold of a loose ball in the lane and slammed home the ball at 9:13 returning LSU’s lead to seven points.
When Courtney Wallace missed a short-range jumper the Tigers got the rebound and a long outlet pass to Spencer led to a fastbreak layup which moved the LSU lead to 28-17. Beginning with a Bureau layup at 6:20 the teams swapped makes and the Tigers’ lead remained nine points, 30-21, at the five minute mark.
UL stopped LSU and Gradnigo hit a leaning jumper at 4:48 to cut the deficit to seven points. Temple and Bureau each made three-pointers and it was 33-26 as the clock dipped below four minutes in the first half.
Bureau’s trey at 4:14 would be the Cajuns last field goal make until 1:03 remained in the half. LSU took advantage with a 7-1 run capped off by a running jumper from Spencer at 1:14 which increased the hosts lead to 40-27.
Louisiana forced two LSU turnovers and scored the final four points of the first half getting field goals from Gary (1:03) and Randell Daigle (:18) to drop the LSU lead to 40-31 going into halftime.
The Tigers had the hot hand shooting in the first half, hitting 14-of-27 attempts (52 percent). UL began the half 5-of-18 and wound up 12-of-32 (38 percent). LSU was 10-of-12 from the charity stripe as the Cajuns were whistled for 10 fouls to the Tigers’ five.
The Cajuns put points on the board first in the second half. Gradnigo was fouled by on the baseline as he made a jumper and converted the free throw. Louisiana got a defensive stop on the ensuing possession and Gary hit a running hook shot at 18:34 to slice the Tigers’ lead to 40-36.
Thornton answered the UL run with a triple at 18:16 and the lead was back to seven points. After a missed trey by Bureau the Tigers were off and running for a layup by Spencer at 17:48 and in less than one minute LSU had stretched the advantage back to nine points.
The Ragin’ Cajuns missed two field goals and had two turnovers on four straight possessions. The Tigers returned the lead to double figures at 16:21 when Johnson hit a fadeaway jumper and it was 47-36. After the first media timeout of the half, Daigle fouled Spencer as he was attempting a three-pointer. Spencer turned the hat trick at the charity stripe and the Tigers lead grew to 50-36.
The Cajuns dropped the lead into single digits holding the Tigers to only two free throws made from 12:23 through the 9:44 mark. A pair of free throw makes by Corey Bloom closed the LSU lead to 55-46 with 10:35 remaining.
When LSU ended its field goal drought it was Garrett Temple knocking down a three-pointer at the top of the key pushing the lead to 59-46. Daigle made a trey at 8:57 to pull UL within 10 points, 61-51, but the Tigers scored four points that were 33 seconds apart.
That was enough cushion for the Tigers to hold off the Cajuns when Louisiana ran off nine unanswered between the 7:15 mark and 4:37 mark and later seven consecutive from 3:14 through 1:57 to drop the LSU lead to 72-69.
The Ragin’ Cajuns return to Sun Belt play on Saturday, Jan. 3 hosting Denver at the CAJUNDOME. The game will be televised live by CST (cable ch. 37) and will also be available on ESPN360.com. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m., and the game is the first half of a doubleheader with the UL-DU women’s teams.
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Re: UL's first half jitters overshadow second half heroics in 2 point loss to LS
