Red Wolves Second Half Blitz Dooms Cajuns, 88-69

Arkansas State put on a shooting exhibition in the final thirteen minutes Monday night and overwhelmed the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 88-69 in front of the smallest crowd in the Cajundome this season, 3230.

Louisiana (14-8, 4-5 Sun Belt), outscored the visitors 15-5 over the first seven minutes of the second half to take a 41-33 lead with 12:55 to play.

Then the roof fell in.

The Red Wolves (16-6, 7-2) made their next 13 shots from the field and then hit 15-17 free throws down the stretch to take the lopsided win.  It was Arkansas State's first win at the Cajundome in a decade.

"We're just not good enough defensively," head coach Bob Marlin said.  "We played pretty well on offense but just couldn't stop them.  Give them credit, they really put on a clinic shooting the ball.  But we can't win if we don't guard better than that."

Devin Carter, who was held to just three points in the first half on 1-4 shooting, made 7-8 in the second half, including 5-6 from three point range to lead all scorers with 22 points.  Deven Simms did the damage inside, hitting 6-8 from the field in the second half and made 6-7 free throws after intermission to finish with 20 points, while Rashad Lindsey, who scored a career high 27 points in the first meeting between the two teams, made all four of his field goal attempts in the second half to end with 17 points.  Tamas Bruce chipped in eleven points.

Arkansas State, after staring 1-5 from the field in the second half, made 18 of its 22 field goal attempts while scoring 60 second half points.  The Red Wolves shot 70.4% after intermission including 7-8 from the bonusphere.

Frank Bartley IV had a solid game for the Cajuns, scoring 18 points while hauling in seven rounbs and eight assists without a turnover in 38 minutes of action.  Freshman Jerekious Davis had his second straight strong game with 14 points and nine rebounds.  Jay Wright and Justin Miller, who were both held scoreless in the first half, had 14 and eleven points respectively.  Bryce Washington, who was bothered by a knee injury which limited his minutes in Saturday's win against Little Rock, had nine points and seven rebounds, but did not score in the second half.

The Cajuns shot 43.1% for the game, but were outscored 33-3 by the Arkansas State bench.

Louisiana will hit the road for its next two contests, beginning Saturday at 1:15 pm at Georgia State.