Louisiana hosted Southern Miss inside the Cajundome tonight for their first home Sun Belt game. The Cajuns opened the game with the lead and never looked back as Kentrell Garnett and Themus Fulks combined for 37 points in a 75-61 victory over the Eagles.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Louisiana opened the contest on a 12-4 run shooting 63% from the field. The Cajuns held Southern Miss to 17% shooting in the stretch, with Kentrell Garnett leading Louisiana with five.
The gap got slightly closer in the next four minutes with the Eagles outscoring Louisiana 5-4 to trim the lead to 16-9 with 11:47 left in the opening half.
The Cajuns made five of their final seven shots in the next phase of the game to keep it at a seven-point advantage at 26-19 with 7:48 left. Garnett continued to lead all scorers with eight.
The game took a turn over the next few minutes, where the Cajuns turned the ball over five times, but Southern Miss couldn’t capitalize on the extra possessions, missing their previous seven shots. With 3:13 remaining in the first half, Louisiana still led 29-21.
Louisiana came alive right before the half, ripping off an 11-0 run to make it 37-21 with 1:21 remaining. Kentrell Garnett had 14 points with 5-6 shooting including four 3s in the first half.
In the second half, Southern Miss closed the gap, outscoring the Cajuns 23-18 to make it 55-44 with 7:08 remaining in the contest. Kentrell Garnett had 17 points at this timeout, which tied his career-high set last season vs Georgia State.
With 3:08 remaining in the game, the final media timeout came with the Cajuns still holding a 64-55 advantage. Joe Charles had a nice run of buckets in the last stretch for the Cajuns, but Garnett still was the scoring leader for Bob Marlin’s squad.
The Cajuns closed out a big win at home, taking down Southern Miss 75-61. Garnett notched a career-high in points with 20 while Themus Fulks had 17.
BIG NUMBER: 20
Kentrell Garnett scored a career-high 20 points in the contest tonight vs Southern Miss.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kentrell Garnett
Garnett notched a career-high in points tonight with 20 on 7-10 shooting including 6-8 from downtown.
UP NEXT: Louisiana will return to the Cajundome Saturday night to host Georgia State. Tip-off for that contest is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.