Cajuns Belt South Alabama 87-61

Bryce Washington tied a career high with 25 points and Jay Wright became the 44th member of the 1,000 point club as Louisiana broke a four game losing streak with a rousing 87-61 win over South Alabama Monday night at the Cajundome.

Washington also hauled in 13 rebounds for his 18th double double on the season.  He also dished out four assists and had a blocked shot in 33 minutes of action.  The 25 points matched his career high set his freshman season against Incarnate Word in the CollegeInsider Tournament.

"We were good defensively tonight," head coach Bob Marlin said after the game.  "And, early when we weren't great on defense they missed some shots.  But overall, that's the best we've been defensively in a while."

Louisiana (14-11, 5-8 Sun Belt) held the Jaguars (12-13, 5-7) to just 33.8% shooting for the game, including 1-15 from three point range.

Wright's 1,000th point came on a free throw at the 14:38 mark of the second half.  Wright later added a field goal and finished with eight points.  He also added six assists, a pair of rebounds and a steal.  Defensively, he held leading scorer Ken Williams to just 3-14 from the field.

"I'm really happy for Jay," Marlin said.  "He took a pretty hard spill (in the first half) and we were concerned about him, but he fought through it.  He's a great competitor and a great Ragin' Cajun."

Lorenz Stalcup also had a solid game for the Cajuns, with eight points, a career high nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

"I think Lorenz got a few new fans tonight," Marlin said.  "He had four blocks but also altered some shots inside.  He's practiced just great the last few days and we gave him a chance early.  He made the most of it."

Wright's three point basket at the 14:03 mark of the first half gave the Cajuns the lead for good at 10-7 and Louisiana increased the lead to 37-28 at intermission.

South Alabama got the first basket of the second half, but the Cajuns then went on a 9-0 run as Stalcup hit a pair of free throws, Washington scored inside, Frank Bartley hit a three pointer and Washington hit another layup to make the score 46-30.  South Alabama never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Nick Stover led South Alabama with 14 points.  Don MuepoKelly and Williams had eleven points each.

The Cajuns shot 60 percent in the second half on 17-28 shooting.  The Cajuns outrebounded the Jaguars 47-32.

Louisiana is back in action.  Tipoff will be 30 minutes after completion of the women's game which starts at 12:00 noon.