PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns defeated the Georgia Southern Eagles 67-49 in the Sun Belt Conference Quarterfinals inside the Pensacola Bay Center on Saturday night. It is the third straight season that the Ragin’ Cajuns have advanced to the SBC Tournament semifinals.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Louisiana’s Jordan Brown and Georgia Southern’s Kamari Brown went back and forth to start the game as the two players scored each of their team’s first four points.
The Ragin’ Cajuns began to seize control as Terence Lewis II made a pair of free throws and then followed by a three-pointer by Jalen Dalcourt.
The Eagles got a dunk from Andrei Savrasov to make it a three-point lead but the Ragin’ Cajuns answered with a layup by Brown, then one by Michael Thomas and another three by Dalcourt.
Louisiana continued to keep up the pace and pushed its lead as high as 18 points. At the break, the Ragin’ Cajuns held a 39-24 lead.
Georgia Southern started the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the lead down to nine points. Louisiana responded with a jumper by Brown.
The Ragin’ Cajuns pushed the lead back up to double figures and maintained that advantage for the rest of the contest. From the 15:16 mark in the second half, Louisiana never allowed its lead drop down to single digits.
After Brown made a pair of free throws with 5:01 left, Louisiana’s lead had ballooned up to 20 points. Less than a minute later, Williams drained a three-pointer and that gave the Cajuns their largest lead of the game.
BIG NUMBER: 1,000
With his 12th point in the game, Jordan Brown had scored 1,000 points in his Ragin’ Cajuns career.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: TERENCE LEWIS II & JALEN DALCOURT
Lewis gave the team a spark from jump and he would end the game with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal. Dalcourt came off the bench and scored 11 points, including going 3-of-6 from three-point range.
UP NEXT: Louisiana (24-7) will take on Texas State in the SBC semifinals on Sunday night. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.