Sun Belt Sports Fans

Louisiana-Lafayette 58, Denver 52 (OT)

Throughout the balance of the 2011 Sun Belt Conference season, the Denver Pioneers blazed the trail and led the league’s West Division. Near the end of the trail, the boys from the Rocky Mountains have been caught and passed on the road to the West’s finish line.

In a heartbreaking narrative for the Sun Belt’s geographical outsider, the crew from Cajun Country made its move in the last instant and is now poised to win a division title.

Gary La’Ryan had seven of the Ragin’ Cajuns eight overtime points, helping Louisiana-Lafayette knock off Denver at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette, Louisiana. The win, the Cajuns’ tenth in a row, kept them in a tie for first place in the Sun Belt West with Arkansas State, while dropping the Pioneers, who have lost five of their last seven, a game behind the leaders in a division that’s been turned upside-down in the matter of one week.

La’Ryan finished with 22 points, making five free throws and a field goal in the overtime. Like the Cajuns, the Pioneers only managed one overtime basket. But they were only able to attempt one free throw in the extra session, and picked up the hard-luck loss. The Pioneers, after being down by as many as seven in the first half before rebounding to take a 24-22 lead into the locker room, found themselves up by six with four minutes to go in regulation. However, a quick ULL run cut the lead to two, and then two La’Ryan free throws with 26 seconds left evened the game up and sent it to overtime.

The Pioneers shot 44 percent from the field and 43 percent from downtown, and if the game had been played within those confines, the Pioneers would’ve won by a comfortable margin. Luckily for the Ragin’ Cajuns, though, free throws matter. While the Pioneers struggled to a 9-of-16 night at the stripe, the Cajuns attempted 29 free throws and made 20 of them, which proved to be the difference.

Aside from Gary, J.J. Thomas had 13 points for the Cajuns. Coach Bob Marlin’s squad has been on a roll since starting the season 3-14, and could potentially find itself atop the Sun Belt West when all is said and done, a remarkable turnabout in a division that looked completely different just a few weeks ago. Denver was expected to beat South Alabama at home this past Sunday, but the Pioneers shockingly lost to a lower-division foe in their home lair, where they had been well-nigh impregnable over the course of the season. Everything has unraveled for a team that has seen its postseason hopes crash and burn in just a few days after playing solid basketball for the better part of two months. It’s all part of the cruelty of collegiate athletics.

For coach Joe Scott’s Pioneers, Chase Hallam and Chris Udofia led the way with 13 points each. Brian Stafford added 11 points, and Travis Hallam had 10. However, aside from those four men, only one other player scored, leaving the Pioneers on the outside looking in as the number one seed in the West has very much slipped away.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer