Trailing by as many as 11 in the second half, the Louisiana men's basketball team staged a dramatic comeback against Wright State in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase at the Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida. The run was a little too late as the Cajuns fell 91-85.
Joe Charles continued his hot start with a career-high 23 points along with nine rebounds. Kobe Julien stuffed the stat sheet with 23 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals, and three blocks, becoming the first player in the Marlin era to reach those numbers in a single game.
The Cajuns came out of the gates hot and took a five-point lead thanks to a three by Kentrell Garnett. After trading points the Raiders jumped ahead on a 10-0 run and eventually pushed their lead to 10. Julien kept the Cajuns in the game with a bucket in the paint followed by a three to make it 34-29. A strong close to the half by the Raiders put them up 45-34 heading into the locker room.
Five points by Charles and a layup by Hosana Kitenge brought the Cajuns back to life and cut the deficit to six. Trailing by seven, Garnett hit back-to-back threes and cut the deficit to one, the closest it had been since the 13:50 mark in the opening half.
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The teams continued to trade baskets before Michael Thomas knocked down a corner three and Julien hit a layup to tie the score at 64. With 9:51 to play, Garnett's layup put the Cajuns ahead 68-67. A free throw by Blake Butler tied the score at 71 but the Raiders answered with an 8-0 run.
The Cajuns refused to go away, trailing by 10 with three minutes to play. Charles brought the offense back to life with a three-point play before scoring off a steal to cut the deficit to five. Julien hit a pair of free throws to make it 83-80 with a little over a minute to go but that was as close as they'd get down the stretch.
Garnett finished the night with 14 points, with 11 coming in the second half. As a team, the Cajuns shot 61.3 percent from the field in the second half. Once again the Cajuns shut down an opponent from the three-point line, containing the Raiders to just a 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) clip. Opposing teams are shooting just 7-for-54 (13 percent) from long range this season.
The Cajuns will play tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in the second round of the event against either Buffalo or Hofstra. Fans can listen live on KPEL 96.5 FM or watch via FloHoops.
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Bob and the boys can rest easy knowing there’s not much difference between 91 and 85.
Play the freshman and bench Blake butler. Gonna have to think about starting a bigger 2 guard instead of Garnett to crash the glass
Oh yall! You know only 3 games in March matter. None of this matters. LOL
I'm sure it is March somewhere
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