LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock held a three point lead in the waning minutes of the first half and trailed by just five at halftime, but was outscored 51-32 in the second half by Louisiana as the Ragin' Cajuns took a 75-51 victory at the Jack Stephens Center Thursday night.
Little Rock finished the game shooting just 29.2% from the floor (14-of-48), while making just four of its 21 three point attempts (19.0%). Little Rock was solid from the line, knocking down 19-of-22 (86.4%), but were outrebounded 41-18 as the Ragin' Cajuns dominated the second half.
Jordan Jefferson led the way with 14 points and three steals for Little Rock, joined in the double-digit club by
Isaiah Palermo, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds two assists and two steals. Jefferson was the Trojans top free throw shooter, knocking down all nine of his attempts on the night.
Kevin Osawe and
CJ White each added eight points on the evening with White pulling down five rebounds.
D.J. Smith finished with seven points while
Jovan Stulic added three with three steals and a pair of rebounds.
But Louisiana dominated Little Rock in all the specialty categories. The Ragin' Cajuns outscored Little Rock 14-5 off turnovers, 46-14 in points in the paint, 15-5 in second chance points, 17-0 in fast break points and had their bench outscore the Trojans 35-3.
Battling icy conditions and frigid temperatures, Little Rock and Louisiana squared off in front of a sparse crowd at the Jack Stephens Center as the Trojans were able to match the Ragin' Cajuns basket-for-basket in the early going. The two teams combined for three ties and six lead changes through the first half with neither team building more than a four point advantage for most.
Neither team led by more than three until an and-one for Louisiana at the 5:28 mark gave the Cajuns a four-point lead at 16-12, the largest of the game for either team at that point. Little Rock then rattled off seven-straight, including a three from White with four free throws from White and Jefferson, taking a 19-16 lead with 3:52 remaining.
But the Trojans were held scoreless for the remainder of the half as Louisiana used an 8-0 run to close out the half and take the 24-19 lead into intermission. The Trojans shot just 23.8% in the first half, making 5-of-21 shots, while going 2-for-10 from three point range, but forced 14 Ragin' Cajun turnovers to keep the game close.
Louisiana raced out to a 10-point lead early the second half at 35-25, only to see Little Rock use a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to four at 35-31 with 14:00 to play. But the Ragin' Cajuns dominated the remainder of the game, outscoring the Trojans 40-20, including a 26-7 run spanning over eight minutes to build a 23-point lead at 61-38 with 5:46 remaining before cruising to the 75-51 victory.
Louisiana finished the game shooting 56.4% from the floor (31-of-55), including going 20-of-32 (62.5%) in the second half to put the game away. 14 different Cajuns scored in the game, led by a 20-point, nine-rebound effort from Jordan Brown and an 11-point, nine-rebound performance from Theo Akwuba.
Little Rock falls to 7-12 on the year and 2-5 in Sun Belt play as the Trojans were once again shorthanded, playing without leading scorer
Nikola Maric who was dealing with a lower body injury. To date, Little Rock has had 11 different players combine to miss 100 games this season.
The Trojans will look to snap their losing skid when they welcome ULM to the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday, February 5. Opening tip against the Warhawks is set for 2 p.m.
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