Sun Belt Conference Championship Recap
by Ryan Glenn
No. 2W Louisiana-Lafayette 88, No. 1W Denver 69
Louisiana-Lafayette earned their second straight trip to the NCAA tournament last night. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished with a strong second half as they were able to take down Denver 88-69. Denver beat Louisiana-Lafayette two times during the regular season, but in the one that mattered, they just could not get things done.
Denver controlled play early. They were up by seven midway through the first half, as Rodney Billups was on fire early for the Pioneers. Tiras Wade brought Louisiana-Lafayette storming back to tie the game. The game went back and forth for the rest of the half and the half ended with the two teams tied.
Louisiana-Lafayette came out in the second half and dominated Denver. Wade scored 21 of his 30 points in the half, as the Ragin’ Cajuns got the lead and didn’t look back.
Even with the great play from Louisiana-Lafayette, their coach was still getting on the referees. Robert Lee, Louisiana-Lafayette’s head coach, was assessed with a technical for stepping outside of the coaches’ box and on to the floor.
Dwayne Mitchell followed Wade in scoring with 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds for Louisiana-Lafayette. Billups finished with 16 points and Erik Benzel had 15 to lead Denver.
