LAFAYETTE, Louisiana – Louisiana Tech drained a season-high 13 three-pointers and held Louisiana-Lafayette to a season-low in points as the Bulldogs routed the Ragin' Cajuns, 83-62, on Saturday night inside the Cajundome.
 
LA Tech (9-3) continued its incredible road success in non-conference as ULL (7-4) came into the in-state battle having won 21 of its last 22 games at home.  The margin of victory was the largest for the Bulldogs over the Ragin' Cajuns in Lafayette in almost 30 years.   
 
"Being able to come into [Lafayette] and defend the way we did was really what was required in order to be successful," head coach Eric Konkol said.  "They are an explosive offense team.  Our guys really executed on both ends of the floor very well.
 
"We have a gritty group of guys that are really playing for one another.  With the amount of adversity we have faced with guys in and out of the lineup with injuries and so forth, it says a lot about these guys playing with a next-man-up mentality and we have to keep that going."
 
It was not a great start though for the Bulldogs, committing six turnovers in the first seven minutes.  As a result, they found themselves down 14-10. 
 
Trailing 21-17 after a made free throw from ULL's Marcus Stroman, LA Tech got into its first offensive rhythm by going on an 8-0 run thanks to a friendly bounce on a corner three-pointer by junior Mubarak Muhammed and five straight points from sophomore Amorie Archibald to grab a 25-21 edge.
 
The Bulldogs never trailed again. 
 
The Ragin' Cajuns were quickly able to erase a four-point deficit that they faced at halftime with back-to-back baskets by Jerekius Davis to tie it up at 32-32.  Junior Oliver Powell got those four points back for the 'Dogs with back-to-back putbacks. 
 
ULL's Cedric Russell responded with a three-pointer to slice their deficit to one at 36-35 two minutes into the second stanza.  However, LA Tech owned the next six minutes of action, exploding for a 24-6 run (forced two Ragin' Cajun timeouts) to build a 60-41 lead with 11:26 to play.
 
From there, ULL tried to speed up the game as much as possible with fullcourt pressure and pushing the ball in transition.  It worked for a small stretch, cutting LA Tech's lead down to 12 with 8:38 to play. 
 
The three-point shot came in handy at this time like it did all night as sophomore Anthony Duruji quickly quieted the crowd with back-to-back triples, ending any hope of a comeback by the home team.   
 
"We have guys that can shoot it," Konkol said.  "We haven't been able to find that rhythm exactly.  Thankfully, we were able to find that rhythm tonight.  Guys were ready to make the play when it came to them."
 
The forward also provided the exclamation point with a thunderous alley-oop slam with only seconds remaining, posting 15 points all of which came in the second half. 
 
Junior DaQuan Bracey was also behind the strong second half, scoring 12 of his team-high 16 points in the stanza.  The Bulldogs ended up scoring 51 points in the second 20 minutes (the third straight game they have posted 50+ in the second half).
 
For the game, LA Tech shot 30-of-59 from the field (51 percent) and 13-of-23 from downtown (57 percent).  Also in double figures were sophomore JaColby Pemberton with 14 and Archibald with 13. 
 
ULL was limited to just 35 percent shooting, going 20-of-57, with seven three-pointers included.  Malik Marquetti and Stroman led the way for the Ragin' Cajuns with 22 and 19 points, respectively.
 
LA Tech will play its final non-conference game on Saturday, Dec. 22 when they take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 4 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
 
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