UL vs FIU

[Zeebart21]

68-68 with 5 secs left..

brutal

Z

[Zeebart21]

68-68 with 5 secs left..

brutal

Z

87- 81 Final UL.

Z

[awadelewis]

Ugly and lucky win... but a win.

Where does the Sun Belt find these Saturday night officiating crews? Some seriously odd calls from this group tonight.

And FIU takes inspiration from their coach... their players whined and moaned on the court as much as Thomas did when he was playing for the Pistons.

That said... big games from McClellan and Brown.... McClellan scores a career-high 28 and just misses the double-double. Brown gets the double-double and makes 2 clutch 3-pt shots in a row in the overtime period. But what won't show up in the stats is the defensive work that Brown did on FIU's #11... he was making that kid's life miserable late in regulation.

[NewsCopy]

Josh Brown scored 10 of his career-high 23 points in overtime to help Louisiana lock down an 87-81 overtime victory over FIU Saturday evening at the Cajundome which pushed the team back above .500 in Sun Belt Conference play.

Louisiana (9-10, 3-2 Sun Belt) fell behind 73-71 with 3:06 left in the extra session after a Deric Hill three-pointer. Brown countered with triple 17 seconds later to give the Cajuns the lead for good.

After Tanner Wozniak misfired on a three-point attempt for FIU (4-13, 1-4 Sun Belt) on the ensuing possession, Darshawn McClellan found Brown on the left wing for another trey which increased the lead to 77-73.

UL put the game out of reach when McClellan stole an entry pass from Hill with 2:05 on the clock and Kadeem Coleby grabbed a second offensive rebound on the other end and converted a layup with 1:35 remaining for a 79-73 edge.

From that point on the Cajuns finished off the Panthers at the charity stripe, knocking down 8-of-12 attempts to seal the victory and keep the team from suffering back-to-back conference losses at the Cajundome.

McClellan led the way with a game-and career-high 28 points, scoring 25 in regulation. He easily bested his previous career-high of 11 points scored at Vanderbilt in the 2009-10 season doing so on 9-of-12 shooting (4-of-6 from three-point range).

Brown added a game-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

FIU had three players reach double figures led by Jeremy Allen’s 22 points.

UL stayed within two games of Sun Belt West division leader UALR which improved to 5-0 in SBC play with a win over Arkansas State in Jonesboro. The Ragin’ Cajuns and Trojans (8-11, 5-0 SBC) meet in Little Rock on Thursday at 7 p.m., for the first leg of the Arkansas road swing that Louisiana embarks on next week.

UL turned to the hot hand of McClellan in the opening minutes of the second stanza to stretch the lead to nine points. McClellan knocked down two triples in the opening minutes with the second increasing the lead to 43-34 at 17:19.

FIU wouldn’t go away as Allen converted three-point baskets on the visitor’s next two touches to trim the UL lead to 43-40.

The Cajuns defense put the clamps on FIU’s offense after a Dominique Ferguson layup at 13:55 made it 47-44. UL held FIU without a field goal make over the next four minutes and rattled off a 10-4 run to stretch the lead to 57-48 inside of nine minutes to play.

Louisiana grabbed a double-digit lead with 7:56 remaining following a McClellan three-point play which provided a 60-50 margin.

Brown upped the Cajuns advantage to 64-53 at 5:56 with a dunk off a missed three-pointer by Taylor, but the hosts would get only one field goal make and missed four free throws the remainder of the half allowing FIU to roll off the 15-4 run which forced the extra session.

Louisiana improved to 16-5 all-time vs. FIU and picked up their eight straight regular season win over the Panthers at the Cajundome (9-2 at Cajundome vs. FIU).

The Cajuns also wrapped up a stretch in which the team began Sun Belt play with five consecutive games against SBC East division foes. Starting with the UALR game next Thursday, 10 of the final 11 SBC games are against SBC West divisional foes.

McClellan scored nine points in the first 3 ½ minutes of play to spark the Cajuns to a 12-8 lead. Brown collected a steal and raced home for a slam dunk at 15:34 which upped the lead to 14-8.

Dierickx converted a jumper for the Panthers at 15:21 to cut the deficit to 14-10. The score remained the same through the 12:41 mark until Allen hit the front-end of a two-shot foul. UL missed four free throws during the scoreless stretch.

A Brown jumper at 11:35 upped the UL lead to 16-11. A Taylor triple at 11:12 and Moore basket at 9:48 drew the Panthers even at 16-all.

Thompson broke the tie at the 9:01 mark when he buried a three-pointer for a 19-16 Cajuns lead. Hill pulled FIU within one point, 19-18, at 7:21. The teams would trade three-point makes over the next four possessions and the Cajuns lead remained one point, 25-24, with 4:51 remaining in the opening half.

Thomas hit two free throws following the under-seven timeout then a triple by McClellan at the 3:17 mark increased the lead to 30-24.

A four-point Panthers run off the hands of Dierickx made it 30-28 as the clock dipped under two minutes in the opening stanza. The Cajuns couldn’t break free as the Panthers answered each scoring opportunity down the stretch and the halftime lead was 35-32.

The rest of the story

UL-SI

[Turbine]

Free throws have got to get better.

FIU shot 20 fewer free throws, but only made four fewer count.

UL went to the line 53 times but barely shot 50%

This year the most UL had gone to the line before was 32 times vs Dillard when they shot 75% making 24 of them. UL only hit 5 more last night with 21 more tries.

The most any UL opponent has gone to the line was MT when they went 28-37.

[CajunRed]

Outside of free throws, we played well last night. Josh Brown is a hard working young man. Wish we had another year of him and Darshawn.

[Cajunsmike]

Free throws have got to get better.

FIU shot 20 fewer free throws, but only made four fewer count.

UL went to the line 53 times but barely shot 50%

This year the most UL had gone to the line before was 32 times vs Dillard when they shot 75% making 24 of them. UL only hit 5 more last night with 21 more tries.

The most any UL opponent has gone to the line was MT when they went 28-37.

Big problem at the FT line last night was Payton. Young man let the pressure get to him. It was not
physical, it was mental. Coleby had improved but regressed last night. Of course he is a center, so it is not unexpected for him to struggle occasionally. Every one else did OK at the line, I said OK, not great. Without Raymone's injury, Payton
would not have been in the game as much at the end. Hopefully, he can grow up soon. Like Coach Marlin reminds folks, he is still 17 so it is not a surprise he has difficulty at times handling the moment. He does show quite a bit of potential at
times and will be a good player down the road.

[CajunEXPRESS]

CM if he is still 17 he graduated very early from high school.

Colby cannot become a good foul shooter without a little help from God. He is what he is, sometimes over 50% and others below, but almost always right at that .500.

[Turbine]

Coleby has good arch on his free throws which should help but doesn't because his distance varies greatly.

jmo

[SlappyCajun]

He is only 17. He did graduate early. I'm gonna start calling him "4 rebound" Coleby. Because that is what he is averaging. Elfrid Payton had just any many boards as him last night. And, I understand that Payton was not great from the line. But in 20 minutes of play he had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. That is a pretty impressive stat line for a Fr. PG.

[CajunEXPRESS]

You are correct Slappy, born 2.22.94. Now either mama started him at 5, took some required and non required courses in summers, or he skipped a grade, and you gotta be pretty smart and mature beyond your years to accomplish any of those three.

[Turbine]

I want to call Elfrid "E.P." for "Extra Point" . . . or is it "Extra Point" for "E.P."