LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Louisiana’s basketball squad proved it could rally from adversity here Wednesday night.

The Ragin’ Cajuns, who had an eight-game win streak snapped in a demoralizing 68-54 loss at New Orleans Saturday, roared back with a vengeance in posting a 76-58 Sun Belt Conference win over New Mexico State.

“I was really proud of their effort,” said Cajun coach Jessie Evans. “We got the game in New Orleans out of our system, and we beat a good basketball team pretty handily on their home court.”

The Cajuns (15-6, 10-2 Sun Belt) moved their magic number to clinch at least a share of the West Division crown to one. One UL Lafayette win in its last three league games or one UNO loss in its last four would give the Cajuns a third straight West title.

Louisiana, which travels to face non-conference foe Rice Saturday in the ESPN’s “Bracket Buster Saturday,” rallied from a slow start to post their second double-digit win over the Aggies (11-12, 5-7) this season. And they did it offensively and defensively, shooting 51 percent from the field and forcing NMSU into 21 turnovers.

“We were trying to force some fast breaks early, and we got ourselves in trouble trying to make one too many passes,” Evans said. “But I’ll take that. Once we started executing our offense, we did a good job of hitting the open man.

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