Exhibition: Ragin Cajuns Build Early Cushion, Roll Past Arkansas Tech

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team scored the first 16 points of the contest and never looked back in picking up an easy 71-48 exhibition victory over Arkansas Tech here Wednesday evening at the Cajundome.

The contest marked the debut of new Louisiana head coach Robert Lee and was the Ragin' Cajuns lone exhibition game of the 2004-05 season.

Brian Hamilton scored a game-high 15 points and also collected a game-high 18 rebounds to lead the Cajuns.

Dwayne Mitchell and Tiras Wade joined Hamilton in double-figures scoring with 12 and 10 points respectively.

UL shot 51.5 percent in the first half (17-of-33) and got a double-double out of Hamilton (12 points, 12 rebounds). Hamilton had 10 rebounds just six minutes into the game.

The Cajuns defense forced the Wonder Boys into 11 turnovers in the opening frame and held ATU to 23 percent shooting (6-of-26) as the squad opened a 43-17 lead at the intermission.

Louisiana shot 38.6 percent for the contest (27-for-70) after dipping to just 27 percent shooting in the second half.

The Cajuns defense forced ATU into 19 turnovers and held the Wonder Boys to just 30 percent shooting (15-of-50).

UL out-rebounded ATU 53-28 and got at least five boards from five different players. The Cajuns dominated the offensive glass by pulling down 29 offensive rebounds led by Hamilton's six.

Thirteen of the 14 rostered players all saw time on the floor for Louisiana. Mitchell played a team-high 26 minutes.

Louisiana left little doubt in the outcome of the contest by jumping out to a 16-0 lead seven minutes into the first half.

The Cajuns sprinted out to a 12-0 lead before the first media timeout at 14:49. UL 's defense did not allow the Wonder Boys to get the ball inside and they missed their first five attempts.

After back-to-back misses on the first two possessions the Cajuns got on the board with a Spencer Ford jump shot at 18:49.

A free throw by Hamilton and then a Hamilton stuff off a fast break put UL up 5-0 at 17:54.

Wade's first triple of the contest followed by a pair of baskets from Mitchell put UL on top by 12 points just five minutes into the contest.

ATU scored its first basket of the contest at 12:46 on a layup by Marcus Lyons. The Wonder Boys made it four straight on the next possession when Daniel Watson putback a missed attempt by Jeremy Johnson at 12:11.

Leading 21-6, the Cajuns used a 7-0 run to push the margin over 20 points for the first time in the contest. Hamilton completed a three-point play with a free throw to give UL a 26-6 lead with 8:47 left in the opening half.

Mitchell gave the Cajuns a 28-6 lead at the 8:21 mark when he took a loose ball inside off of a missed three-pointer by Wade.

Terrence Martin pulled ATU below 20 points when he connected on a three-point in the left corner at 8:05 to make it 28-9.

Louisiana took the three points back on the ensuing possession when Wade made his second three-point field goal of the night to put the lead back to 20-plus points.

The Cajuns lead reached as many as 28 points when a pair of freebies by Anthony Rhodman gave the Cajuns a 37-9 advantage.

UL opened the second half with a 5-0 run that pushed its lead into 30 points for the first time in the contest.

The Cajuns largest lead was 35 points when a Hamilton stuff off a fast break pushed the lead to 55-20.

Louisiana returns to the hardwood on Friday, Nov. 19 in a 5:30 p.m. contest against Louisiana Tech in the LSU Louisiana Classic at Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.

The game with La. Tech will be the first season opener under Lee and the first of two games at the LSU Louisiana Classic. The Cajuns will face either LSU or Tulane in the second round of the tournament on Sunday, Nov. 21 at either 12:30 or 3 p.m.

LOUISIANA SI

[RaginFan]

Great game, great team, great coaching, great effort. If this is indicative of the attitude and heart of this years team I think us cajun fans are in for a treat. The team looked well coached and focused. The first half of the game was a clinic on team play!

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns dispose of Arkansas Tech in easy 71-48 exhibition victory

LOUISIANA La. — Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns got the Robert Lee Era off to a winning start on Wednesday, thrashing the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys 71-48 in an exhibition contest at the Cajundome that wasn’t as competitive as the final tally might indicate.

The visitors didn’t light the scoreboard until the 12:46 mark of the first half when Marcus Lyons finally sliced through for a layup, and Tech didn’t reach double digits until 2:57 remained until halftime on a Detrius Roberson 3-pointer.

That made the score 37-12, Cajuns, as the Wonder Boys spent most of the opening period wondering how to score.

The Cajuns didn’t have that problem, as senior Brian Hamilton scored 15 points and cleared 18 rebounds to lead the easy victory.

“Our focus tonight was to give a lot of effort and to see where our team was at,” Hamilton said. “We wanted to crash the boards and keep the intensity up.”

Hamilton led a dominating 53-28 UL advantage on the boards, while Dwayne Mitchell added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and newcomer Tiras Wade scored 10.

“I can’t remember holding a team to just 9 points for that long,” Mitchell said. “It felt good, though.”

The problem for the Cajuns was maintaining their focus for a full 40 minutes after leading 43-17 at halftime.

“In the first half, I thought we played hard,” Lee said. “We did a good job defensively of getting into the passing lanes. But, after the first three minutes of the second half, we didn’t guard anybody. This gives us an idea of how this team needs to play.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[1stTake]

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