Long Sets Personal Best as Cajuns Hammer Jags, 90-68

We’ve met Shawn Long, inside dominator.

We’ve met Shawn Long, rebounding machine.

And now, we’ve met Shawn Long, three point specialist.

The Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Year scored a career-high 34 points, including five three point baskets as the #4 seed Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns dominated #8 South Alabama 90-68 to move into the semi final round of the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Long hit 13-20 shots from the field and went 5-6 from beyond the arc en route to his personal record scoring performance.

Johnathan Stove added 14points, while Bryce Washington chipped in 12 and Devonta Walker added eleven points in the rout.  Stove and Walker led the Cajuns with seven rebounds each as Louisiana dominated the boards, 40-23 and allowed the Jaguars just one offensive rebound in the entire game.

Barrington Stevens III, playing in his final game, led South Alabama (14-19) with 13 points, while Nick Stover scored eleven and Shaq Calhoun contributed ten.  South Alabama was playing without leading scorer Ken Williams, who suffered a foot injury in the Jags’ first round game against Georgia Southern.

Louisiana (17-13) used a 12-0 run over a five minute span in the first half to take a 24-12 lead with 10:47 left in the first half and South Alabama never got within single digits the rest of the way.  The Cajuns led by 14 points at halftime, 51-37 and led by as many as 25 points in the second half.

Stove started the run with a three point basket and Washington followed with a layup.  Hayward Register hit a triple and Long added a layup and tipped in his own miss to cap the 12-0 spurt.

South Alabama got within ten points, 56-46 on a layup by Stover, but that would prove to be the last gasp for the Jaguars, as the Cajuns went on a 14-2 spurt to increase the lead to 70-48 with 12:45 remaining.

The Jaguars shot 54.5% from the field in the first half, but the Cajuns’ defense forced 13 first half turnovers to negate the hot shooting.  The Jaguars turned the ball over 19 times in the contest.  The Cajuns assisted on 20 of their 32 made baskets, with Jay Wright leading the way with six in just 20 minutes of playing time.

Louisiana will meet top-seeded Little Rock at 1pm Saturday with the winner advancing to the finals on Sunday.  #3 UT Arlington will face #2 UL Monroe in the other semifinal.