Cajuns Dominate Florida Atlantic, 71-52

The Cajuns used hot shooting in the first half to take a 46-23 lead over Florida Atlantic at halftime, and cruised to the victory in the second half.

For the second straight contest, Louisiana shot better than 50 percent from the field in the first half as the Cajuns nailed 58.1 percent of their shots (18-of-31). The Cajuns also continued their highly impressive long-distance shooting, going 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from three-point range.

With the win, Louisiana (5-7, 2-0 Sun Belt) clinched its first 2-0 start to its conference schedule since the 2001-02 season. Florida Atlantic (4-9, 0-2 Sun Belt) has now lost 18 of its last 22 games outside the Sunshine State dating back to the start of the 2006-07 season.

Sophomore Courtney Wallace (New Orleans, La.) led Louisiana with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five rebounds in 23 minutes. Freshman Chris Gradnigo (Lake Charles, La.) tallied double-digits for fourth time in his last five games, chipping in 10 points. Freshman Travis Bureau (Gonzales, La.) added 12 points, while La’Ryan Gary (Lafayette, La.) scored 10.

Sophomore Courtney Wallace led Louisiana with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five rebounds in 23 minutes. Freshman Chris Gradnigo tallied double-digits for fourth time in his last five games, chipping in 10 points. Freshman Travis Bureau added 12 points, while La’Ryan Gary scored 10.

The Cajuns held Florida Atlantic to 35 percent shooting from the field as the Owls went just 7-of-20 and 1-of-7 from three-point range.

FLORIDA ATLANTIC 52 Monroe, Carlos 5-9 5-8 15; Alarcon, Sean 5-5 0-0 13; Parmer, Jeff 1-4 4-7 6; Perkins, Xavier 1-4 3-4 5; Royster, Brett 2-6 0-0 4; Nwoji, Carderro 2-8 0-0 4; Hernandez, Sammy 1-4 1-3 3; Hughley, Sanchez 0-1 2-2 2; Rodriguez, Enrique 0-0 0-0 0; Simmons, Derrick 0-1 0-0 0; Owens, Jamal 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 17-42 15-26 52.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 71 Wallace, Courtney 5-6 3-5 13; Bureau, Travis 4-8 3-4 12; Gary, La'Ryan 3-7 4-4 10; Gradnigo, Chris 3-8 2-2 10; Millsap, Elijah 3-7 0-0 9; Daigle, Randell 3-8 0-0 9; Johnson, Tyren 2-4 0-0 4; Milson, Abray 1-1 1-2 3; Barksdale, Maurice 0-0 1-2 1; Dison, Brandon 0-0 0-0 0; Bloom, Corey 0-3 0-0 0; Lago, Willie 0-0 0-0 0; Dees, David 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 14-19 71.

Halftime: UL 46, FAU 23. 3-point goals--Florida Atlantic 3-12 (Alarcon, Sean 3-3; Parmer, Jeff 0-1; Perkins, Xavier 0-1; Nwoji, Carderro 0-3; Hernandez, Sammy 0-2; Hughley, Sanchez 0-1; Simmons, Derrick 0-1), Louisiana-Lafayette 9-25 (Daigle, Randell 3-6; Millsap, Elijah 3-4; Gradnigo, Chris 2-5; Bureau, Travis 1-4; Bloom, Corey 0-3; Johnson, Tyren 0-2; Gary, La'Ryan 0-1). A-3265