Four Finish in Double Figures as Louisiana Falls to George Washington
Mostapha El Moutaouakkil scored a season-high 19 points, and three others scored in double figures but it wasn't enough as the Louisiana men's basketball team fell to George Washington in the second round of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, 83-74, on Saturday.
El Moutaouakkil led everybody with 19 points while grabbing seven rebounds along with three assists. A day after setting a career-high, Christian Wright followed that with a 13-point performance. Kyran Ratliff had arguably his best all-around performance with 11 points and six rebounds while Kentrell Garnett scored 10 points in the effort.
Louisiana opened the scoring with a three by Ratliff. El Moutaouakkil took over the offense from there, scoring the next five Cajun points to take an 8-7 lead. The Revolutionaries took a four-point lead but back-to-back buckets by Zeke Cook and Michael Thomas kept things even.
George Washington's offense got going and slowly built a 12-point cushion but Louisiana refused to go away. Cook got them back within 10 with a pair of free throws before a jumper from Wright made it a six-point contest. Wright capped the half with a layup to send the game into the locker room with the Cajuns trailing 35-30.
The Cajuns came out firing in the second half. Back-to-back baskets by Ratliff made it a one-point game and Garnett pushed Louisiana into the lead with a three at 39-37. The sides would trade baskets with Louisiana leading 43-42 at the under-16 media timeout. The Revolutionaries responded out of the timeout with a 19-3 run to take a 15-point lead. Louisiana closed the gap to as close as nine the rest of the way but couldn't get any closer down the stretch.
The Cajuns close the Paradise Jam on Monday against UAB with an 11:30 a.m. tip-off.
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Re: Four Finish in Double Figures as Louisiana Falls to George Washington
