Box Score LAFAYETTE, La. - For the 14th time in a row, the University of New
Orleans basketball team left the Cajundome empty-handed, falling to
Louisiana-Lafayette 76-60 on Sunday night.
Trailing by one point at the break, ULL (10-17, 7-9 Sun Belt) came back to the floor, going on a 14-4 run to open the second half, building a nine point lead. The Ragin' Cajuns had ended the first half scoring 7 of 9 points, creating a 21-6 run over roughly nine minutes of play.
ULL was led by La'Ryan Gary, who came off the bench to score 20 points and grab seven rebounds. Chris Gradnigo and Tyren Johnson scored 13 apiece while Randell Daigle added 10.
The loss was the ninth straight on the road in conference competition for UNO (11-17, 6-11 SBC) dating back to last year.
Kyndall Dykes paced the Privateer efforts with 20 points and seven rebounds.
Jahmal Burroughs and
Darrian McKinstry had 11 and 10 points, respectively while
Johann Mpondo made his return to the court, pulling down seven rebounds.
Over a nine minute period of play, the momentum of the game changed. After UNO had built a game-high six-point lead at 27-21, the Ragin' Cajuns turned the tide, scoring 21 of 27 points to give themselves a nine-point lead at 42-33.
The momentum would change once more as the Privateers would work themselves back in the game, getting to within one point at 42-41 following an 8-0 run. The run featured four points apiece from Dykes and McKinstry.
UNO clawed within one once more at 44-43 and could never get as close again as ULL went on a 16-4 run to push the lead to 13 points at 60-47 with just over four minutes remaining in the contest, building a lead that was out of reach.
The game was close early on, as the teams saw five lead changes in the opening half before UNO emerged as the leader at the break with a 29-28 advantage.
Strong shooting put the Privateers in the driver's seat at the time as the team shot 48.1 percent for the half compared to just 36.4 for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Leading the way in the shooting department was
Charles Carmouche, who made back-to-back baskets, part of a 9-0 run that saw the Privateers bounce back from three points down to take a six-point lead at 27-21. The New Orleans native shot 4 of 5 from the field during the opening half en route to nine points in the opening half, surpassing his career-high of seven.
The Privateers will close out the regular season slate with their second straight trip on the road, a visit to UALR on Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest.
