University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Friday, March 10
New Orleans, La.
5 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
21-12
76
vs
86
Georgia State
20-11
1
2
F
Louisiana
26
50
76
Georgia State
35
51
86
Cajuns Come Up Short Against Panthers In SBC Tourney
3/10/2017 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Wright scores 27 points, Washington adds 17 as Cajuns' seven-game win streak snapped.
NEW ORLEANS – Jay Wright scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, but Georgia State used a 19-6 run in the first half and held off a late rally by the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 86-76, in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championships at Lakefront Arena.
Freshman D' Marcus Simonds scored 17 points to lead four players in double figures as No. 2-seeded Georgia State (20-11) advanced to face the Georgia Southern-Troy winner in the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m. Louisiana, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped, ended its season at 21-12.
Louisiana opened the game with a 7-2 run that was capped by a Frank Bartley 3-pointer, and led 12-8 on a Johnathan Stove jumper with 12:30 left in the first half before GSU rallied behind a 24-15 advantage on the glass in the opening stanza to take the lead for good.
A dunk by Jordan Session and a 3-pointer by Simonds helped the Panthers to a 13-12 lead before two free throws by Devin Mitchell with 8:59 remaining in the half gave Georgia State the lead for good, 15-13.
The Panthers took a 27-18 lead on a layup by Malik Benlevi with 4:50 left in the half before the sophomore gave Georgia State its biggest lead of the half, 35-24, with a layup with 55 seconds left.
After Wright sank a pair of free throws to open the second half, Georgia State took its biggest lead of the game as the Panthers went on an 8-0 run to take a 43-28 lead with 17:39 remaining.
Three straight buckets by Jerekius Davis helped Louisiana close to within 66-60 with 5:40 remaining, but that would be as close as the Ragin' Cajuns would get as Georgia State would eventually push the lead to 76-66 on a Ishiah Dennis bucket with 1:47 left.
Bryce Washington added 17 points for Louisiana with Stove adding 14. The Ragin' Cajuns finished 24-for-63 (38.1 percent) from the floor and was 5-for-26 from behind the 3-point line.
Hollowell added 16 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for Georgia State with Benlevi adding 15 points and Isaiah Williams 14. The Panthers held a 44-31 lead on the glass and made 27 of 37 free throws (73.0 percent) for the game.
Freshman D' Marcus Simonds scored 17 points to lead four players in double figures as No. 2-seeded Georgia State (20-11) advanced to face the Georgia Southern-Troy winner in the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m. Louisiana, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped, ended its season at 21-12.
Louisiana opened the game with a 7-2 run that was capped by a Frank Bartley 3-pointer, and led 12-8 on a Johnathan Stove jumper with 12:30 left in the first half before GSU rallied behind a 24-15 advantage on the glass in the opening stanza to take the lead for good.
A dunk by Jordan Session and a 3-pointer by Simonds helped the Panthers to a 13-12 lead before two free throws by Devin Mitchell with 8:59 remaining in the half gave Georgia State the lead for good, 15-13.
The Panthers took a 27-18 lead on a layup by Malik Benlevi with 4:50 left in the half before the sophomore gave Georgia State its biggest lead of the half, 35-24, with a layup with 55 seconds left.
After Wright sank a pair of free throws to open the second half, Georgia State took its biggest lead of the game as the Panthers went on an 8-0 run to take a 43-28 lead with 17:39 remaining.
Three straight buckets by Jerekius Davis helped Louisiana close to within 66-60 with 5:40 remaining, but that would be as close as the Ragin' Cajuns would get as Georgia State would eventually push the lead to 76-66 on a Ishiah Dennis bucket with 1:47 left.
Bryce Washington added 17 points for Louisiana with Stove adding 14. The Ragin' Cajuns finished 24-for-63 (38.1 percent) from the floor and was 5-for-26 from behind the 3-point line.
Hollowell added 16 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for Georgia State with Benlevi adding 15 points and Isaiah Williams 14. The Panthers held a 44-31 lead on the glass and made 27 of 37 free throws (73.0 percent) for the game.
Team Stats
LA
GSU
FG%
.381
.491
3FG%
.192
.385
FT%
.742
.730
RB
31
44
TO
8
12
STL
7
1
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
27
FGM
9
3FGM
2
FTM
7
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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