The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team got a second-round victory 80-66 over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers inside the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida on Thursday afternoon. The victory moves Louisiana into the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament, where they will face the four seed Arkansas State.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Louisiana entered as the fifth seed in the tournament, facing the 13th seeded Chanticleers. Michael Thomas scored first for the Cajuns, but Coastal took a 5-2 lead shortly thereafter and led 5-4 at the first media timeout. After that segment, Louisiana grabbed the lead and extended it with a three from Kobe Julien to make it 14-7. Another Julien layup moments later made it 18-9 Louisiana.
Coastal went on a 7-0 run after that, with freshman Jacob Meyer showing aggression on the offensive end. That stretch was answered with the largest run of the half, an 11-0 mark for the Cajuns which included three straight triples.
Down the stretch in the first half, Louisiana was in control, taking a 19 point lead after a Julien layup made it 38-19. However, in the closing moments of the half, the Chanticleers made enough shots to hang around. It was 42-29 in favor of Louisiana at the half.
The second half began with Hosana Kitenge scoring the first nine points for the Cajuns. That allowed them to take a 51-31 lead. However, that began a Louisiana dry spell. Coastal took advantage and sliced the lead all the way down to 11 points at 52-41. A Kentrell Garnett transition layup ended the drought for Louisiana, and they forced a quick turnover afterwards before the under 12-minute media timeout.
That sequence seemed to shift the momentum in Louisiana’s favor. They put together a 13-2 run including the aforementioned Garnett layup. Garnett also added the closing triple on the run that gave Louisiana a 65-43 lead and effectively gave them breathing room.
Down the stretch, Coastal tried to find their way back into the game, but ultimately were not able to make enough outside shots. The Cajuns did not have their best three-point shooting performance either, but Garnett hit a couple of big ones in the second half. Julien hit a big triple down the stretch as well, and he ended with a game-high 25 points.
BIG NUMBER: 23
Louisiana ended up with 23 points off turnovers in this game. It was a big factor, and the transition buckets allowed the Cajuns to build the lead at various points.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kobe Julien
Julien is this team’s leading scorer for a reason, and he backed that up on Thursday. The junior went for 25 points, and five rebounds on an efficient 10-15 from the field.
UP NEXT: Louisiana will face four seed Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM.