For the second time in a one-week span Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns knocked off a Sun Belt division leader, this time defeating SBC East co-leader Troy 69-54 Saturday evening at the Cajundome.

The process was simple. Louisiana (8-11, 5-3 Sun Belt) shot 50 percent in the first half to build a double-figure lead and matched every Trojans (10-10, 5-4 Sun Belt) score in the second half.

The Ragin' Cajuns remained undefeated (5-0) at the Cajundome in Sun Belt play and have now won four of their last five games, overall.

With Arkansas State's loss to Florida Atlantic, UL sits one game out of first place in the SBC West.

The duo of Tyren Johnson and Chris Gradnigo led Louisiana to victory again. Johnson scored a game-high 21 and Gradnigo added 17. Johnson's nine rebounds upped his season total to 158, a new personal single-season best (previous was 153 in 2008-09).

The Trojans received a team-high 19 points from Richard Delk. He was the only one on the team to score double figures, though. Troy struggled from the charity stripe, shooting 6-of-16.

The Cajuns held the Sun Belt's leading scorer, Brandon Hazzard, to two points on 1-of-8 shooting. Hazzard entered the night averaging 18.3 points per game.

The Trojans scored the first basket of the second half, a triple from Michael Vogler at 19:30, to momentarily lower the lead into single digits at 37-28. The Cajuns saw their advantage reach 15 points after a 6-0 run upped the lead to 43-28.

A pair of Delk three-point makes fueled a 10-2 Trojans run over a three-minute span that lowered the Cajuns lead to 45-38 by the 14:15 mark.

UL went inside to Johnson on two touches inside of 13 minutes for made baskets that pushed the lead up to 11 points with 11:56 left to play.

The Trojans would work the lead down to nine points on a pair of occasions and eight on another and each time the Cajuns had an answer.

A Bernard Toombs freebie at 6:58 lowered the UL lead to 52-44. Lamar Roberson fed Gradnigo on a dunk at 6:47 and after a pair of defensive stops it was Travis Bureau dunking off of a pass from Johnson at 5:23 to push the lead to 56-44.

UL held an opponent below 60 points in the Cajundome for the third straight game.

After an empty opening possession, the Cajuns got five points on their next two touches. A Raymone Andrews triple at 18:32 and Randell Daigle jumper at 18:17 provided the offense.

The Trojans slowly chipped away and went ahead 8-7 on a Vernon Taylor triple in the left corner at 15:13. Gradnigo answered for UL with a three on the ensuing possession at 15:01 for a 10-8 lead.

When Daigle buried a triple in the left corner at 9:19 the UL lead was nine points, 22-13.

UL hit a scoring drought after Daigle's triple and the Trojans rolled off seven straight capped off by a Brandon Hazard inside basket at 6:09 that made it 22-20.

The Cajuns kept the Trojans at bay over the next minute. Johnson fed Colby Batiste for a dunk at 5:51 and just inside of five minutes Johnson collected a steal and raced home for a layup at 4:55 and a 26-20 lead.

Louisiana held Troy scoreless for the final 2:14 of the half and saw the lead reach double figures, 37-25, following Gradnigo's third triple of the opening stanza.

The Ragin' Cajuns take to the road for the next two games. First up is a visit to Jonesboro, Ark., to meet Arkansas State at the Convocation Center on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7:05 p.m. Then it's on to Monroe on Saturday, Jan. 30 for a 4:30 p.m., meeting with Louisiana-Monroe.

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