Brutal First Half Dooms Cajuns, 75-64

ATLANTA, GA--Five field goals.  twenty five percent shooting.  Thirteen turnovers. Best player with three fouls.  All in the first half.

Those numbers took the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns out of the game before they could get in it Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena as the Cajuns fell to Georgia State, 75-64 before 2,353 fans Saturday afternoon.

Senior Ryan Harrow, who scored 26 points against the Cajuns in Lafayette, four in double figures with 19 points.  R. J. Hunter chipped in 13 points and a team leading seven assists.  Guard Kevin Ware came off the bench to score eleven, while Markus Crider added ten.

Louisiana was led by the 21 points and 16 rebounds from Long, who had 16 points and eleven rebounds in the second half.  Jay Wright added 14 for Louisiana.

The Cajuns (11-9, 5-4 Sun Belt) had a 3-0 lead after a  Long three point basket, and a 4-3 lead after a Devonta Walker free throw.  But :17 later  Harrow scored inside and the Panthers never trailed again.

The Cajuns were within 13-10 after a Steven Wronkoski three pointer, but Georgia State went on a 9-0 run to open the lead to a dozen points, 22-10 at the 6:34 mark of the first half.  The lead was nine points, 27-18 with 1:13 to go, but Georgia State (13-7. 6-3) got a layup from Kevin Ware and a triple from Harrow to take a 32-18 lead into the locker room.

The Cajuns were just 5-20 (25%) from the floor in they.  He had five points and five rebounds in twelve minutes of action.

Things got even worse for the Cajuns in the first five minutes of the second half, as Georgia State opened on a 12-4 run to stretch the lead to 44-22.  The Cajuns could only cut into the lead by a half dozen points over the next eleven minutes and still trailed 60-44 with 4:58 left.  But Long scored the next ten Cajuns points over a two and a half minute span to get Louisiana's deficit into single digits, 63-54 with 2:13 to go. The teams traded baskets to make the score 65-56 and Kasey Shepherd stole the inbounds pass and drove for what looked to be a layup.  But Hunter blocked the shot, was fouled and made both free throws to put the Panthers up by eleven.  The Cajuns got to within nine points four more times but couldn't get a defensive stop to draw closer.

Hunter's only basket of the first half, a jumper off the glass with 9:44 made the junior guard Georgia State's all time leading scorer.

The Cajuns continue their three game road trip next Thursday when they take on South Alabama for the second time this year.  Tipoff will be at 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.