Cajuns Defeat Mavericks, 90-70

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball captured a Sun Belt Conference home victory on Saturday afternoon, defeating the UT-Arlington Mavericks, 90-70, at the Cajundome.

With UT-Arlington leading, 8-7, at the 17:01 mark of the first half, the Cajuns went on 14-0 run over the next 3:35, giving them a 21-8 lead at the 13:26 mark of the initial half, one which they would never relinquish.

After extending that lead to 24-10 at the 11:23 mark, the Cajuns pushed their lead to 17,  making it 40-23 with 3:26 remaining in the half.

The Mavericks were able to cut the UL lead to 40-27 over the next 1:17, but the Cajuns ended the half on a 5-0 run, and took a 45-27 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Louisiana out-shot UT-Arlington from the floor, 42%-36%, in the first half,and also out-rebounded the visitors, 24-17 over the  first 20 minutes of play.

The Cajuns were led in the initial half by Shawn Long and Elfrid Payton, who scored 10 points apiece, while Luke Davis paced UT-Arlington while 9 points.

The Cajuns opened the second half by grabbing their first 20-point lead at 18:47 mark, 47-27, and then went on a 10-5 run over the next 2:01, to extend their lead to 25 points, 57-32, with 16:46 remaining.

A little over seven minutes later, UL extended their lead to a game-high 26 points, 70-44, at the 9:28 mark.

That lead would never be threatened, as the Mavericks could only trim the deficit to as little as 15 points, before the Cajuns went on to coast to the 20-point win, their first conference victory of the season.

Louisiana out-shot UT-Arlington from the field, 46%-39%, while forcing 15 turnovers.

Long led the way for Louisiana, finishing with 22 points, to go along with 9 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots, while Kasey Shepherd added 17.

In a losing cause for UT-Arlington, Lonnie McClanahan paced the way with a game-high 27 points

With the victory, the Cajuns improved to 10-5, overall, and 1-1 in Sun Belt Conference plays, while the Mavericks slipped to 6-10, overall, and 1-3 in league play.

The Cajuns return to action on Monday night, when they host Texas St., in Sun Belt Conference action at the Cajundome.

View the game box score.