LOUISIANA La. – Tiras Wade scored a game high 20-points leading Louisiana in scoring for the sixth time in as many outings, helping lead the homestanding Ragin’ Cajuns to a 79-63 victory over Division II St. Mary’s (Texas) here Saturday evening at the Cajundome.
The win helped the Cajuns (3-3) snap a two-game losing streak and extended the program’s non-conference home win streak to 13 straight games dating to the 2001-02 season.
Louisiana was playing its fourth game in seven nights and the margin of victory was a little indicative of a team that is looking forward to a little time off. The Cajuns will now take a week off before returning to action next Saturday against No. 2 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.
Wade shot 7-of-10 from the field and along with Chris Cameron led the Ragin’ Cajuns with three steals.
Orien Greene and Brian Hamilton each scored in double-digits off the bench with 14 and 10 points respectively. The Cajuns used a different starting lineup for the first time this season as both Greene and Hamilton were forced to sit out the first 10 minutes of the game for disciplinary reasons.
Henry Hernandez led St. Mary’s with 17 points making 4-of-8 field goals and 9-of-14 free throw attempts. Hernandez pulled down 12 rebounds to record a double-double.
Louisiana shot 62 percent from the field in the first half (16-of-26) in building a 17-point advantage at the break.
The Rattlers (5-3) kept the margin between 16 and 20 points throughout the entire second half by connecting on 58 percent (15-of-26) of its shots.
Louisiana built up a 20-point lead twice in the second half with baskets from Wade at 11:02 and 5:20 – the last giving the Cajuns a 68-48 lead.
The Cajuns forced the Rattlers into 20 turnovers – the fifth time in six outings the opposition had at least 20 turnovers.
The Rattlers stayed close through the first six-plus minutes of the game by virtue of not turning the ball over.
A free throw by J.J. Edwards at 16:48 evened the game at 7-7 after the Cajuns had opened the game with a 5-1 run before the first minute had expired.
On the ensuing trip following Edwards’ freebie, Spencer Ford hit his first triple of the evening to give the Cajuns the lead for good. UL led 10-7 with 16:34 remaining in the opening half.
St. Mary’s stayed within three points at 14-11 at the 13:47 mark as the Rattlers still had zero turnovers at that point.
After an offensive putback by Wade at 13:11 gave the Cajuns a 16-11 edge, the defense kicked into gear and forced the Rattlers into three straight turnovers on three straight possessions to open a comfortable margin.
After Wade’s putback, the Rattlers missed on their next trip down the floor and had a steal on the Cajuns outlet pass down the floor.
However, Wade intercepted the Rattlers return pass by Edwards over the halfcourt line and lobbed the ball over the St. Mary’s defense to a wide-open Ross Mouton who threw down a two-handed slam to increase the lead to 18-11.
Mouton’s slam triggered a six-point outburst by the Ragin’ Cajuns over a 40 second span.
Following the slam, the Cajuns stole the inbounds pass for another two points and a nine-point, 20-11 lead. The Rattlers called a timeout as the first sign that the Cajuns were about to pull away became evident.
The Rattlers’ mishaps continued after the timeout.
Edwards traveled on the trip down the floor for St. Mary’s third straight turnover in as many possessions. That turnover led to a jump shot by Adam James that gave Louisiana its first double-digit lead of the evening and made it 22-11 at 11:56.
St. Mary’s was still within seven points at the 8:25 mark when Henry Hernandez went backdoor for a layup that made it 25-18.
Louisiana responded with a 7-0 run that stretched the lead to 14 points, book-ended by a three-point basket from Derek Gray from the top of the key at 5:37 that gave Louisiana a 32-18 lead.
UL took its largest lead of the half when Greene connected on his first field goal of the contest – a three-pointer at 2:01 that put the Cajuns up 41-23.
The Rattlers closed back to the 14-point margin from the 5:37 mark with back-to-back successful trips getting a basket from Souza and a pair of free throws from Goff to trim the lead to 41-27 with 45 seconds left in the half.
St. Mary’s had a chance to get closer after the Cajuns missed back-to-back jumpers on the next trip down the floor. A turnover by Richardson led to a quick pass from Greene to Hamilton who marched his way through the lane for a dunk and a foul on Hernandez.
Hamilton made the freebie to complete the three-point play and give the Cajuns a 44-27 lead at the intermission.
A three-pointer by Billy White with 18 minutes remaining in the game capped off a 5-2 run by St. Mary’s to open the second half that cut the Cajuns lead to 46-32.
After White missed a triple at 17:08 that could have pulled the Rattlers within 11 points, Greene grabbed the rebound and converted on the other end to put the Cajuns up 48-32 at 16:50.
After the Rattlers trimmed the lead to 51-36 with 14:20 remaining in the game, the Cajuns defense held the Rattlers to just two points over the next two minutes to stretch the lead to 57-38 at 12:08.
From that point on the closest St. Mary’s could get was 16 points.
LOUISIANA SI
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