Cajuns Zap App State, 79-58

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, sparked by 57% shooting and a stifling first half defense, built an early lead and dominated Appalachian State 79-58 before a season high crowd of 4,131 Saturday night at the Cajundome.

Louisiana (5-6, 1-1 Sun Belt) used runs of 9-2, 10-2 and 8-0, all in the first half, to build a 40-21 halftime lead and were never headed in the second half.

Kasey Shepherd led four Cajuns in double figures with 19 points.  Shawn Long added 18 and a team high 15 rebounds, while Bryce Washington contributed 12 points and Jay Wright added 11.

Frank Eaves reached his average with 19 points on the night and freshman Ronshad Shabazz added 11 for the Mountaineers (2-11, 0-2), who dropped their eighth straight.

"I thought we came out with great energy defensively in the first half and that was pleasing to see," said head coach Bob Marlin.  "On offense we made the extra pass and were able to get some easy baskets as a result.  And, we held the best three point shooting team in the league to just 3-17."

The Cajuns never trailed in the game and took the lead for good when Jay Wright hit a jumper with 17:59 left in the first half  Shepherd followed wit a layup, and Long hit a layup.  Wright then countered a Griffin Kinney jumper with a three pointer to give the Cajuns an early 11-4 lead

After Shabazz scored inside, the Cajuns went on another run as Shepherd scored on a jumper and Washington hit a trio of layups on passes from Long.  The 6-11 senior then hit a layin of his own to give the Cajuns a 21-8 lead.  The Mountaineers were able to get within nine points, 26-17 at the 6:05 mark after Eaves hit his only three pointer of the night.  But the Cajuns then scored eight straight on a layup by Jay Hedgeman, a three pointer by Hayward Register and a three point play by Shepherd to extend the lead to 24-17 just 80 seconds later.  Louisiana took a 40-21 lead into the locker room, shooting 54.5 percent (18-33) while holding App State to 33% (8-24).

Appalachian State scored the first five points of the second half to get within 14, but would get no closer as the Cajuns got the next seven points on a jumper by Wright, a three point play by Johnathan Stove and a dunk from Long to get the lead to 47-26.  The lead would grow to as many as 25 points, 58-33 at the 12:29 mark and the Mountaineers got no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.