(UL Athletics) – LAFAYETTE – Greg Williams, Jr., recorded his fourth straight 20-point game, scoring a game-high 23 points, and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns stretched its win streak to nine games with an 82-63 win over Texas State in a Sun Belt Conference game on Thursday at the Cajundome.
Jordan Brown scored 16 points with Themus Fulks and Terence Lewis II added 11 and 10 respectively as Louisiana (19-4, 9-2 Sun Belt) shot 57 percent from the floor and earned a season sweep of Texas State (11-13, 4-7 Sun Belt).
Williams, who reached the 1,000-point mark in his career which began at St. John’s, finished 7-for-10 from the floor and 3 of 5 from behind the 3-point line. The senior grabbed five rebounds and went 6-for-9 from the free throw line as the Ragin’ Cajuns equaled their longest SBC win streak since the 2015-16 season.
He scored eight points in a 17-7 run midway through the first half as Louisiana erased an early 6-2 deficit in the first four-plus minutes of the game. The Lafayette native drained his first 3-pointer with 15:23 remaining in the first half to tie the game at 6-6 before his second long-range bucket put Louisiana ahead for good, 13-10, at the 13:41 mark.
Kentrell Garnett gave Louisiana a 16-11 lead with a 3-pointer with 12:52 left in the half before Joe Charles’ 3-pointer from the right corner helped the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 19-13 advantage.
Texas State would hang around, trailing 38-34, at halftime and closing to within 44-41 on Nighael Ceasar’s bucket with 17:11 left, but Louisiana would keep the Bobcats at bay.
The Bobcats, who had a 20-game win streak in the month of February snapped, trailed 68-60 with 5:36 remaining on a free throw by Brandon Davis before Louisiana would score the next 10 points to push its lead to 18 after a free throw by Michael Thomas at the 2:13 mark.
Brown finished 7-for-9 from the floor and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as Louisiana claimed its first win over Texas State at home since Jan. 1, 2021. Fulks dished out nine assists for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who shot 63 percent from the field (15-for-24) in the second half and notched their 11th game of the season in eclipsing the 50-percent mark from the floor.
Ceasar came off the bench to score a team-high 12 points for Texas State, which lost in the month of the February for the first time since a loss at App State on Feb. 8, 2020. Mason Harrell, who missed the previous four games due to injury, returned to the lineup for the Bobcats and finished with 10 points on 3 of 12 aim from the floor.
Louisiana will close out its four-game homestand on Saturday when it hosts Marshall in a 7 p.m. SBC showdown.