LAFAYETTE, La. – It's not how you start but how you finish and the Louisiana men's basketball team proved that on Monday, November 6 against Youngstown State in the Cajundome. The Ragin' Cajuns trailed by as many as 12 points before storming back to beat the defending Horizon League regular season champions, 72-62.
The win extends Louisiana's home winning streak to 16 games and was their 13th straight home opening victory. Themus Fulks led all players with 20 points along with 7 assists. Joe Charles recorded the first double-double of his collegiate career with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kobe Julien added 16 points and 4 rebounds in the win, the 248th for head coach Bob Marlin at Louisiana.
"We knew this would be a tough basketball game and that's what we got," said Marlin. "We didn't make shots early and our defense kept us in the game. A team effort and we were able to finish it."
The Cajuns struggled early offensively and saw the Penguins build a 20-8 lead. After a Cajun timeout, the offense found their rhythm by attacking the paint. Four straight buckets, all in the paint, followed by a three from the hand of Charles brought the team back in it with an 11-0 run.
The visitors weathered the blow momentarily but Hosana Kitenge's pair of free throws at the 3:24 mark gave the Cajuns their first lead of the night at 25-24. The Penguins bounced back and answered with a four-point run to go up by three, but Charles connected again from long range to tie the score at 28. After trading buckets, Michael Thomas connected on a pull-up jumper at the buzzer, sending the Cajuns into the locker room up 35-31.
A 6-0 run by the Penguins early in the second half saw them retake the lead early in the half. That lead lasted 24 seconds before Kitenge knocked down two from the free throw line to tie the game again.
After being held to just 4 points in the first half, Themus Fulks took over in the second. The junior made back-to-back layups before sinking a pair of free throws. Julien followed with a layup to put the Cajuns up 49-41 with 12 minutes to go.
A Fulks steal and layup on the other end pushed the lead to 10 but the Penguins refused to go away. They responded with six straight points to cut the Cajun lead to four. Leading by six with just over five to play, Blake Butler and Charles connected from three and put the Cajuns ahead 66-54, their largest lead of the night. Down the stretch, Fulks made four free throws to keep the game out of reach.
The Cajuns were 21-of-24 (87.5 percent) from the charity stripe, including 16-of-17 (94.1 percent) in the second half. They won the turnover battle, forcing 17 while only giving the ball away 11 times. Only twice last season did the Cajuns force that many in a game, forcing 18 against New Orleans and Tennessee. Butler finished with 9 points while Kitenge added 8 points with 4 rebounds.
The Cajuns hit the road for the first half of the MAC-SBC Challenge to take on Toledo. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. from the Savage Arena.
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