Louisiana falls to Georgia State
ATLANTA - Georgia State made 73 percent of its shots in the opening half and made its free throws went in counted the most in taking an 85-78 victory over Louisiana here Monday night at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers, who made 16-of-22 field goal attempts in the first half to build an 11-point, 44-33 lead at the break, were held to just 15 field goal attempts in the second half and Louisiana's defense took charge in closing the gap to two points 61-59 on a Ross Mouton layup with 9:18 left to play.
The Cajuns defense held the Panthers (2-2) to just seven field goal attempts in the final nine-plus minutes, but GSU which converted just 6-of-15 (40 percent) free throw attempts in the opening half connected on 16-of-18 (89 percent) freebie attempts down the stretch to hold off the Cajuns rally.
Louisiana (2-2) had closed the gap to two points at 78-76 on a baseline-driving dunk by Dwayne Mitchell at 1:56. Tikoyo Barnett made his only two free throw attempts of the game on the next possession to give the Panthers a four-point margin once more.
The Cajuns had an opportunity to pull within two points on the next trip down the floor, but Chris Cameron missed an inside layup and Orien Greene misfired on a three-point attempt after an offensive rebound by Brian Hamilton.
Kevin Thomas grabbed the rebound for the Panthers and made two freebies with 1:00 left to give GSU an 82-76 lead.
Louisiana quickly answered on the next trip when Tiras Wade grabbed a missed three-point attempt by Orien Greene and converted the putback to make it 82-78 with 49 seconds left.
The Cajuns appeared headed for a defensive stop on GSU's ensuing possession but Hamilton was whistled for a blocking foul with 18 seconds left and the shot clock showing just five seconds.
Boyd Copeland made 1-of-2 free throw attempts and Barnett grabbed the rebound off the missed attempt setting up two more free throws by Thomas to stretch the lead to 85-78 with 13 seconds left to play.
Wade led the Cajuns with 17 points - 12 in the second half - as the junior transfer from East Tennessee State took home team high-scoring honors for the fourth straight game.
Thomas led GSU with a game-high 25 points as he converted 5-of-7 three-point field goal attempts.
The Panthers ended the game 7-of-12 from three-point range and made 32-of-48 free throw attempts.
After hitting just 40 percent of its free throws in the first half (6-of-15), GSU made 26-of-33 (79 percent) in the second frame.
Louisiana was whistled for 28 fouls to 17 by GSU and the Cajuns attempted 26 free throws.
The loss prevented the Cajuns from posting back-to-back victories for the first time this season and under head coach Robert Lee.
The two teams will conclude their non-conference home-and-home series in three weeks when the Panthers visit the Cajundome on Monday, Dec. 20 for a 7:05 p.m. game.
GSU scored the game's first five points before one minute expired. The Panthers controlled the opening tip and after a near-miss on a steal attempt by Hamilton GSU struck when Copeland found Barnett open for a triple.
Hamilton's field goal attempt on the Cajuns first possession was long and Copeland grabbed the loose ball and raced his way the length of the court for a fastbreak layup and a 5-0 lead at 19:08.
Louisiana responded with four straight points getting a pair of freebies from Wade at 18:38 and then converting the Panthers' first turnover of the game into an easy layup for Greene to close the gap to 5-4 at 18:19.
The two teams swapped baskets and the Cajuns took their first and only lead of the opening half on a basket by Cameron at 16:41.
Cameron's bucket was the Cajuns last field goal over the next four minutes as the Panthers staged a 12-0 run to open a 19-8 lead with 13:10 left to play in the first half.
Barnett answered Cameron's basket with an inside conversion of his own at 16:31 to give GSU a 9-8 lead.
The Cajuns first turnover of the game, Greene stepping on the sideline, led to a three-point basket by Thomas that gave the Panthers a 12-8 lead. Hamilton misfired on the Cajuns next possession and Barnett drilled a triple on the other end to give GSU a 15-8 lead and prompt a timeout from UL Lafayette head coach Robert Lee.
Lee emptied the Cajuns bench and put in a whole new lineup in hopes to change the Cajuns fortunes after a lackluster opening five minutes.
The damage control was effective as Copeland missed four-of-five free throw attempts and GSU's lead was just 16-8 when Lee re-inserted the original starting five.
A made basket by Thomas at 13:18 gave the Panthers their first double-digit lead of the evening at 18-8.
Louisiana worked the margin back under nine points on a
Hamilton putback at 12:43 that made it 19-10.
After a Marcus Brown inside bucket at 12:16 gave the Panthers a 21-10 lead, the Cajuns could get no closer than nine points as GSU went on to make its first six 3-point field goal attempts of the half.
GSU led by as many as 16 points, 43-27 at 2:43, before the Cajuns held the Panthers without a made field goal over the final 2:48 of the half.
A pair of three-point baskets by Ross Mouton, the last coming with 34 seconds left before the half, pulled UL Lafayette within 10 points at 43-33.
The opening of the second half was a carbon copy of the first half with GSU netting the first five points to push the lead to 49-33 with 18:38 left to play.
Louisiana, which committed seven first-half turnovers, took better care of the basketball in the second frame and forced 10 turnovers from GSU to close the gap.
After Copeland's basket at 18:38 extended the Panthers lead to 16 points, the Cajuns outscored GSU 26-12 over the next nine minutes with a layup by Mouton cutting the Panthers lead to 61-59 at 9:18.
Louisiana returns to action on Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. (CST) game against Charlotte at the Halton Arena in Charlotte, N.C. The game with the 49ers will wrap up the Cajuns brief two-game road swing.
LOUISIANA SI
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Georgia State upends sloppy Cajuns
