2005 SBC MBB champs

[Turbine]

RAGIN' CAJUNS     of     LOUISIANA            Thanks for ...     a great 2004-2005 Season

2005 SUNBELT CHAMPS     & R-E-S-P-E-C-T NATION WIDE

[RaginEsquire06]

Yeah...That's what I'm talking about!

[NewsCopy]

DENTON, Texas - For the first time since joining the Sun Belt Conference Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team has won the league's conference tournament in back-to-back seasons.

Louisiana-Lafayette (20-10) forced 15 Denver turnovers and the defense held the Pioneers to 39 percent shooting in the second half to break a 32-32 tie and take an 88-69 victory over DU in the championship game of the 2005 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

With the win, Louisiana-Lafayette clinched the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season - the first back-to-back NCAA appearances for the Ragin' Cajuns since back-to-back trips in 1982 and 1983.

Head coach Robert Lee became the first rookie coach to lead the Cajuns to the "Big Dance" or any postseason.

Louisiana-Lafayette picked up its fifth Sun Belt Conference tournament championship tying Western Kentucky for the most titles in league history. It was the Cajuns 20th victory of the season, marking the fourth straight 20-win campaign for the program, and the win improved the Ragin' Cajuns all-time SBC Tournament record to 23-9 which ties South Alabama for the second-most wins in league tournament history.

Tiras Wade, named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, led all scorers with 26 points. Wade was 8-for-14 from the field and 8-for-8 at the free throw line. He was joined in double figures by Brian Hamilton, Orien Greene and Dwayne Mitchell who each had 12 points.

The Cajuns took charge in the second half by scoring the first five points. Chris Cameron nailed one of his team-high thee 3-pointers to give the Cajuns the lead for good at 35-32. An inside basket from Hamilton at 18:22 pushed the lead to 37-32.

After a hook shot by Yemi Nicholson at 17:09 closed the Cajuns lead to 39-37, Louisiana-Lafayette went back to the three-point well to begin the surge which created separation from the Pioneers. Wade was good from three-point land at 16:52 which was followed by another triple from Ross Mouton on the Cajuns next possession that pushed the lead to 45-37.

Denver never got any closer than seven points the remainder of the contest with the last push coming on a three-pointer by Benzel at 5:16 that trimmed the Cajuns lead to 70-63. Louisiana-Lafayette got back on track outscoring the Pioneers 18-6 the rest of the way.

Louisiana-Lafayette jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held the Pioneers scoreless until the 16:57 mark when Yemi Nicholson stuffed home a pass from Antonio Porch.

Rodney Billups then went to work slicing through the Cajuns defense for a pair of layups in a span of 28 seconds that gave DU the lead 6-4 at 16:09. Billups made it eight straight points after the media timeout when he drove the lane and got a pass from Nicholson on the fly for a layup.

Louisiana-Lafayette ended a scoring drought that last nearly five minutes when Brian Hamilton got an inside basket at 13:52 to cut the lead to 9-6. Hamilton scored the Cajuns first six points until a pair of free throws by Tiras Wade at 11:30 helped the Cajuns close the Denver lead to 13-8.

Denver led by six points on three different occasions in the final 10 minutes of the first half taking leads of 17-11, 19-13 and 21-15.

Trailing 21-15 at the 7:30 mark of the first half the Ragin' Cajuns began to turn the tide when Orien Greene converted a layup 27 seconds later and drew a foul from Brett Seger. Greene made the free throw and cut the DU lead to 21-18.

Denver later led 23-20 before Cameron began a series of tradeoff triples between the two clubs to tie the game 23-23. Erik Benzel answered for Denver, but Wade was good for the Cajuns on the next possession to tie the game 26-26 at 5:06.

The Louisiana-Lafayette defense which did an excellent job shadowing Benzel throughout the first half kept him off the scoreboard in the final five minutes. The two teams traded baskets which were capped off by a Greene jumper at 2:09 that tied the game.

The Cajuns defense held strong down the stretch as DU missed three field goal attempts.

LOUISIANA SI

[littlebittyschool]

Destroy them all Cajuns! Win this whole freakin thing!

Geaux Cajuns! Go Sunbelt!

"The streets shall flow with the blood of the non-believers!" -Beavis