DENTON, Texas - This is familiar territory.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns returned to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game on Monday with an 80-69 semifinal victory over Florida International in The Super Pit on the campus of North Texas.

Also familiar is the foe for today's 8 p.m. title game on ESPN - the Denver Pioneers, who swept two games from UL during the regular season.

A victory over the Pioneers would highlight a campaign in which UL's Robert Lee has already set a school record for wins as a first-year coach with 19.

The Cajuns can earn a second straight NCAA Tournament berth with a win, which hasn't happened at Louisiana since the 1981-82 and 1982-83 campaigns.

Tiras Wade scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the first half, while center Chris Cameron came alive with 16 of his 19 after intermission, to spearhead the victory.

"I thought we came out really well at the beginning of the game," Lee said. "We got off to a good start and were able to get confidence early. Once we did, we started to relax."

"We wanted to come out with a sense of urgency," Wade said. "We wanted to come out with some fire."

"In the two losses we had at the end of the season, we lost because we were not mentally prepared," Cameron said. "We weren't keeping the other team off the boards. We're playing better here.

"We know what it takes to win the championship - win three games in three days."

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com