Cajuns’ Rally Falls Short at #22 UCLA, 89-80

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns fell behind by as many as nineteen points in the first half and rallied to within four points in the second half, but #22 UCLA held on for an 89-80 victory at Pauley Pavilion Tuesday night.

Shawn Long had a monster game for the Cajuns, scoring a season high 26 points and 16 rebounds in 36 minutes.  Kasey Shepherd added 15 points and Jay Wright 14.  Both Shepherd and Wright had five assists each.

Bryce Alford led all scorers with 27 points and added seven assists for UCLA. Isaac Hamilton and Tony Parker scored 19 points each, with Parker leading the Bruins in rebounds with nine.

UCLA (8-3), who has wins over Kentucky and at Gonzaga this season, opened the game on an 8-0 run and enjoyed its biggest lead, 37-18 with 6:57 remaining in the first half.  But Louisiana (3-5) went on a 12-4 run to cut the lead to nine, 41-32 with a minute to play in the half.  Alford hit a pair of triples to get the lead back to fifteen, but UL's Johnathon Stove nailed a trey at the buzzer to keep the Cajuns within striking distance, 44-32 at halftime.

Long and Wright hit jumpers early in the second half and the Cajuns' point guard followed with a three pointer as the Cajuns got the UCLA lead to seven early in the second half. The lead fluctuated between seven and nine points for several minutes before Hayward Register's three pointer cut the lead to 63-59 with 10:13 to play.

But UCLA roared back as Parker and Hamilton sparked an 11-2 outburst to increase the lead to 74-61 at the 7:18 mark and appeared to take control.

But the Cajuns weren't finished.

Long got a dunk and a three pointer, Shepherd hit a three and Long added a free throw during an 8-2 spurt to cut the lead to 76-70 with 3:40 to play.The Bruins and Cajuns traded three point baskets to make it 79-73 at the 2:20 mark. But that was as close as Louisiana would come to the upset.

The Bruins wound up shooting 31-56 (55.4%) for the game including 9-17 from three point range with Alford nailing 4-6.  The Cajuns were 29-68 (42.6%) and hit a season high 13-33 from beyond the arc (39.4%). Register and Shepherd each hit three triples for Louisiana, while Wright, Long and Steven Wronkoski had two apiece. The Cajuns were outrebounded for the first time as UCLA took a 38-33 rebounding advantage.

UCLA outscored the Cajuns by nine at the free throw line, which was the final margin in the contest.  the Bruins hit 18-29 from the charity stripe while UL was 9-12.

Louisiana concludes the three game road trip Friday night when they travel to Malibu to take on Pepperdine in a 9PM (CST) contest.