LAFAYETTE, La. — Sophomore Ken Williams scored a career-high 28 points, and South Alabama men’s basketball rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette 89-82 on Saturday at the Cajundome.
The win snapped Louisiana-Lafayette’s 12-game home winning streak and improved South Alabama to 5-12 overall and 3-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Ragin’ Cajuns fell to 10-7 and 4-2.
Second-Half Comeback
South Alabama trimmed its deficit to 44-35 by halftime and outscored the Cajuns over the final 20 minutes. Louisiana-Lafayette pulled within 77-74 with 2:15 remaining, but the Jaguars answered with the next four points and sealed the game by making six consecutive free throws in the final 37.4 seconds.
The victory was South Alabama’s third in its last four games at the Cajundome.
Williams’ Scoring Run
Williams became the first South Alabama player to score 23 or more points in four consecutive games since Jeff Hodge in the 1988-89 season.
Freshman Taishaun Johnson added 15 points, 13 of them after halftime, and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Georgi Boyanov scored 14 points off the bench and made both of his 3-point attempts. Abdul Lewis and Dionte Ferguson each scored 11 points, and Ferguson blocked three shots.
Long Leads Louisiana-Lafayette
Shawn Long led the Cajuns with 22 points and a game-high 22 rebounds. Kasey Shepherd and Brian Williams scored 13 points apiece, and Jay Wright added 12.
Up Next
South Alabama, in its second season under head coach Matthew Graves, closes a stretch of three games in five days Monday when it hosts Arkansas-Little Rock at the Mitchell Center. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. The Trojans are 6-10 overall and 1-5 in Sun Belt play.
