Cajuns win in overtime
Advocate news services
LAFAYETTE — A foul called on Denver’s Royce O’Neale with 0.4 seconds left in overtime sent Elfrid Payton to the free throw line where he calmly made the first attempt to break a tie and give the University of Louisiana at Lafayette men’s basketball team a 72-71 victory Thursday night in the Cajundome.
The game-deciding play came after Raymone Andrews stole the ball from O’Neale as the Pioneers were playing for a potential go-ahead basket. Andrews flipped the ball to Payton who raced in for a layup and drew the foul.
Just 16 seconds earlier, it was Payton driving through the lane for layup that pulled ULL (13-11, 7-3 Sun Belt) into a 71-all tie. Before that, the Cajuns had gone scoreless in the extra session since a Josh Brown basket at the 4:05 mark.
Payton finished with a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Brown contributed a game-high 21 points.
The Cajuns posted their third straight victory and 20th in the past 22 Sun Belt contests at the Cajundome. ULL pulled within one-half game of SBC West leader UALR (7-2 SBC) who was idle Thursday evening.
Denver (16-7, 6-4 Sun Belt) dropped a road contest for the third straight outing. The Pioneers were led by O’Neale who tied Brown for game-high honors with 21 points.
TEXAS-TYLER 70, LOUISIANA COLLEGE 59: In Pineville, the Wildcats fell behind early and never could recover in an American Southwest Conference loss.
LC (6-11, 6-9 ASC), which last week defeated Texas-Tyler 75-70 on the road, fell behind by 18 in the first half and, despite pulling within nine several times in the second half, was unable to close the gap.
Texas-Tyler (6-13, 5-10), on the back of a 16-point, 20-rebound double-double by Darren Houliston, outscored LC 30-20 in the first half and 40-39 in the second and outrebounded the Wildcats 52-43 on the night.
The Wilcats trailed 25-7 in the first half but mounted a spirited comeback through the next 20-plus minutes of game time.
Women
LOUISIANA TECH 77, NEVADA 63: In Ruston, Jasmine Bendolph recorded her third career double double with 12 points and a career-high 15 assists as the Lady Techsters shot 53 percent for the game in the 14-point victory over the Wolf Pack (5-16, 1-5 WAC).
Bendolph’s 15 assists were the sixth most in Tech history and the most by a Tech player in more than 24 years. The last Lady Techster to accomplish the feat was none other than Weatherspoon, who tallied 15 dimes in a win over Oklahoma State in 1987-88.
“She makes the game so easy,” said Louisiana Tech coach Teresa Weatherspoon. “Her vision is so good. She can see behind her. She knows what is about to happen before it happens.”
She makes the game so much easier for everyone else. To see her perform with so much energy and life is fun. That’s her job. It’s unselfish basketball. You get joy from passing the basketball. Her teammates were finishing for her. I am proud of her.”