At the first media time out, Louisiana coach Bob Marlin blistered his team on the sidelines, unhappy with their performance.

The Cajuns responded.  And, Marlin was smiling at the end.

The Cajuns (13-3, 3-0 Sun Belt) outscored Appalachian State 24-2 over the last nine minutes of the first half en route to a resounding 78-45 win before a season high 4,329 at the Cajundome Thursday night.

"I got on them because we weren't executing," Marlin said.  "We went to the wrong side on one play and gave up a dunk. To their credit, they responded."

Johnathon Stove scored the first six points in the run, which began with 9:13 remaining in the first half.  Jerekius Davis scored on a layup, Malik Marquetti hit a pair of free throws, Bryce Washington scored five straight points, Marquetti hit a layup, and Washington made two free throws to make the score 38-15 before Justin Forrest made a pair of free throws for App State (7-9, 2-1 Sun Belt).  A Cedric Russell jumper and a pair of Frank Bartley triples closed out the run and made the score 46-17 at the half.

The lead swelled to 57-27 after a Washington layup at the 13:52 mark and the Cajuns never led by less than that the rest of the game.

Bartley led the Cajuns with sixteen points, including five buckets from the bonusphere, while Washington added a double double with 15 points and ten rebounds.  Marquetti was the third Cajun in double figures with ten.

Appalachian State came into the game leading the conference in three pointers made per game (10.1), but the Cajuns limited the Mountaineers to just 3-19 from beyond the arc in the game.

"We said we had to run them off the three point line and we did a good job of that," Marlin said.  "They came in shooting 46% of their shots from three and we allowed them just 19 attempts."

The Cajuns also held App State's Ronshad Shabazz, to just eight points, twelve below his season average.  Freshman Justin Forrest led the Apps with 12 points and was the only player in double figures for the visitors.

Louisiana played without leading scorer JaKeenan Gant, who injured his thumb in practice on Wednesday.  Marlin said Gant would be out indefinitely and would be evaluated at a later date.

The Cajuns entertain Coastal Carolina Saturday night at 7:00.

 

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