Johnson struggled in the first half, but took over down the stretch to propel the Ragin' Cajuns to an 81-74 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.

The 6-foot-8 forward scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds in his second monster performance in the past week. Johnson carried UL (3-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) in last week's road win over Sam Houston State, falling just short of a triple-double with 31 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

"It definitely was our plan to get the ball to Tyren as much as possible," UL coach Robert Lee said. "The credit goes to Tyren Johnson. We're putting the ball in his hands, and we're very confident that he is going to make the right plays.

The rest of the story

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • December 13, 2009