The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team went to the Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam. Their opponent was the Liberty Flames, a team that accumulated four wins heading into Friday’s matchup. The Cajuns found themselves down big early and couldn’t recover as coach Bob Marlin’s group fell to 1-4 on the season with the 89-69 loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game was competitive early inside the UVI Sports & Fitness Center. Louisiana led 7-4 through the first two and a half minutes as all three opening baskets from the Cajuns were scored from all three levels.
Liberty picked up the pace and went on a 19-3 run to separate themselves from the Vermilion and White. Five Flame players scored in that span with Zach Cleveland assisting on multiple made baskets while scoring five points. Louisiana was down 23-10 eight minutes into the game.
Following a timeout by the Cajuns, Koron Davis, and Mostapha El Moutaouakkil scored in the paint on back-to-back possessions but Owen Aquino of Liberty responded with a couple of layups. Davis was the only source of offense for the Cajuns during that stretch before another media timeout as he scored six points and recorded a steal that led to a transition bucket.
The Flames jumped out to a 17-point advantage with layups from Taelon Peter and Colin Porter with five minutes remaining in the first half. Kyndall Davis and Kylan Ratliff traded baskets with the entire Liberty team by scoring 12 points in the closing minutes in an attempt to keep the game within reach.
Aquino scored with 18 seconds to go and that put the Liberty ahead of Louisiana 45-32 heading into the half.
Coming out of the locker room, the Cajuns tried to ignite a comeback early as El Moutaouakkil got a steal off of Cleveland and turned the takeaway into a layup with the assist from Davis. That was just one of Louisiana’s two baskets by Louisiana to open the second half with the other being a Michael Thomas layup.
In that time, Liberty extended its lead up to 23. The run began with an and-one layup from Aquino. Cleveland scored again in the paint while Porter and Kaden Metheny combined to add three three-pointers.
Christian Wright tried to limit the bleeding and put an emphasis on scoring. The senior guard ended the scoring drought for the Cajuns and put up 11 points in five minutes, knocking down a hat trick of threes in the process and a couple of shots from the free throw line.
The Flames maintained their distance over the final eight minutes of the contest. Wright knocked down a few more shots down the stretch to lead the team in points with 21 points on five of five three-point shots. The heroic effort was no where near enough as the Cajuns fell 89-69 to fall to 1-4 on the season.
BIG NUMBER: 15
Rebounds have been an issue for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns thus far this season and this game was no different. The Vermilion and White were out-rebounded by 15, 33-18. This is the third game in a row Louisiana lost the rebound battle by 15 or more.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kaden Metheny
Metheny lit up the scoreboard throughout Friday’s contest. The senior guard finished the game with 20 points on seven of 10 shooting from the floor. Bethany also shot 67% from three-point range as the Cajuns fell to the Flames 89-69.
UP NEXT: The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (1-4) will return home on Saturday, November 30th to play the Nicholls Colonels. Tipoff in the Cajun Dome is set for 2:00 p.m.
