The UL menโs basketball team completed the season sweep of Georgia State and it kept the Raginโ Cajunsโ season alive in the process.
Coach Quannas Whiteโs Cajuns got a career-high 29 points from Jaxon Olver and dominated the second half for an 84-75 victory over the Panthers on Tuesday in the first round of the Sun Belt Menโs Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center.
โI enjoyed the way the guys fought,โ White said. โThey gave it all they had. So now we just have to move forward.โ
The No. 12-seeded Cajuns improved to 11-21 overall, while No. 13 Georgia Stateโs season ends at 10-22.
UL will now play No. 9 James Madison at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The Cajuns won at James Madison 64-61 on Feb. 4.
โI knew it was going to be difficult after we played at our place and winning at our place,โ White said. โThat's a really good team. Hats off to them. They competed, but I love our team effort.โ
The final score was quite similar than the first meeting with the Cajuns winning he first meeting 82-72 in Lafayette, but the two games werenโt all that similar.
In that first game, UL overcame a 33-of-35 effort at the free throw line for the Panthers. This time, it was actually the Cajuns who held the edge at the line, outscoring Georgia State 26-18 at the line on ironically 35 attempts.
โIt was just better discipline defensively,โ White said. โThey do a great job of creating fouls, so going into this game, that was one of the things we needed to do.โ
The Panthers were limited to 23 tries at the line.
UL settled for 43% shooting overall after making 50% of its shots from the field and from 3-point land in the first game.
But the Cajuns limited turnovers to nine, while forcing 14.
It was a game of runs for the Cajuns โ putting together 13-0 runs in each half.
Trailing 24-17 midway through the first half, the Cajuns put together their first 13-0 run to build a 30-24 lead at 6:18 on a Dorian Finister jumper.
Karris Bilal fueled the run overall with four points, a key steal and a big rebound.
Rebounding was critical all game for UL, which outrebounded the Panthers 40-30, mostly because of grabbing 18 offensive boards.
The streaky game, though, saw Georgia State grab a 38-36 halftime lead, behind 16 points from Jelani Hamilton.
That too was different than the first game. Hamilton was limited to 2-of-15 shooting from the field in that game, but finished with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, five rebounds and four assists before fouling out with 2:48 left on a questionable call.
The Panthers opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but UL quickly responded with its second 13-0 run of the game to seize a 49-41 lead.
Itโs when Olvera really began to take over, scoring six of the points, in addition to Kyran Ratliffโs four points.
UL added a 12-3 run later in the second half โ culminated by a Milan Mejia 3-pointers with 10:22 left for a 61-49 lead - and the Cajuns never looked back.
Olveraโs 29 points came on 9-of-16 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers and nine rebounds.
โMy teammates did a great job of setting me up and us playing together,โ Olvera said. โThen it was do-or-die, so it was just having that mentality.โ
UL also posted three more double-figure scorers. Finister with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists. Finister missed the last two games in concussion protocol and played 32 minutes.
โI still don't feel all the way myself, but Iโve got a great coach standing behind me, a great team is behind me just to push me when I am down, when I am frustrated,โ Finister said. โI just want to give a big shout out to those guys โฆ Iโll be back. Iโll be fine.โ
DeโVion Lavergne added 12 points, along with six rebounds and five assists. Bilal collected 10 points with three rebounds and three steals.
โWe know that just this week right here that we can change our lives, we can go to the tournament,โ Olvera said. โWe just come in here with the right mindset, thinking we the best team.โ