Cajuns Stymie Appalachian State, 81-66

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns got 22 points from Shawn Long and a career-high 20 points from guard Hayward Register as the Cajuns defeated Appalachian State for the second time this year, 81-66 before 4,080 at the CAJUNDOME.

Louisiana (13-10, 7-5 Sun Belt) never trailed in the game and allowed the game to be tied only once during the contest.

Brian Williams and Bryce Washington also scored in double figures for Louisiana.  Long led the Cajuns with 14 rebounds in notching his 47th career double double, best in the nation among active players.  Long also became just the 13th player in school history to score 1,500 career points and only the fourth player to reach 900 rebounds in a career.

Appalachian State (8-12, 5-6) was led by Jake Babic and Frank Eaves with 16 points each.  Chris Burgess scored 14, all in the second half, while Tommy Spagnolo and Jacob Lawson added ten points each.  Babic and Eaves, however, combined to score only seven points after intermission.

Washington scored six straight points as the Cajuns jumped out to an early 10-3 lead and the Cajuns got their first double digit lead at the 13:49 mark on a Jonathan Stove dunk, 19-9.  App State closed to within five points, but a triple from Register, who nailed six of them in the game made the score 48-38 with under a minute to go.  Eaves' three ball with :03 left cut the lead to seven at the break 48-41.  Register and Long combined for 27 of the Cajuns' 48 points.

The Cajuns went without a field goal for over five minutes to start the second half and App State opened with a 9-2 run, tying the game at 50 on a Burgess three pointer.  But Brian Williams hit a layup to break the drought and give the Cajuns a 52-50 lead.  That sparked an 11-2 run capped by a jumper by Jay Wright to open up a 61-52 lead and the Mountaineers never got closer than six points the rest of the way.

For the game, the Cajuns outshot the Mountaineers 49.1% to 39.1%.  Louisiana also had the advantage on the boards, 39-32 and continued its torrid free throw shooting, hitting 18-21 (85.7%).

Louisiana will finish up the two game homestand Saturday at 1pm when they host UT Arlington in a nationally televised (ESPN2) game.