Cajuns Survive FIU in Overtime 87-81

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns inability to make free throws nearly cost them a game last night, but Louisiana made 11-16 freebies in overtime to defeat Florida International 87-81 at the Cajundome Saturday night.

The Cajuns led by as many as eleven points in the second half, but went nearly six minutes without a field goal down the stretch, and the Cajuns missed countless opportunities from the free throw line that would have given Louisiana a chance to put the game away.

Darshawn McClellan scored a career-high 28 points and Josh Brown added 23 to pace the Cajuns attack.  Brown added ten rebounds and McClellan nine.

Jeremy Allen scored 20 points to pace the Panthers (4-13, 1-4 Sun Belt), while Phil Taylor added 19.

The Cajuns (9-10, 3-2 SBC), led by three at the half.

The two teams were whistled for 61 fouls.  Louisiana shot under 50% in regulation (18-37) before finishing 29-53 (54%) for the game.  FIU was 25-33 from the line for the game.

The Cajuns faced a 2-3 zone from the Panthers all night, but nailed 10-23 from three point range, including back to back triples by Brown in the overtime.

The Cajuns shot 44% from the field for the game, led by McClellan's 9-12 effort, which included 4-6 from beyond the arc.

Elsewhere in the league, Middle Tennessee defeated Florida Atlantic, North Texas was victorious over Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas-Little Rock remained undefeated in the West Divison by beating arch-rival Arkansas State and South Alabama defeated Troy.

Louisiana was the only home team to win in the league on Saturday.

Louisiana returns to action on Thursday when they travel to division leader Arkansas-Little Rock (5-0) for a 7pm contest at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.