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Until the UL Ragin’ Cajuns have a full contingent of players, they will have to settle for silver linings.
Kentrell Garnett was a good place to start and finish in Sunday night’s 69-58 home loss to a strong Louisiana Tech team (8-2). Garnett was the only player in double figures with 23 points for UL, shooting 9 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, with four rebounds.
“It was a good college basketball game between two rivals,” UL coach Bob Marlin said. “There were some positives today. We’ll continue to work on those. We’ll continue to work on the negatives.”
UL (1-8) took an 18-16 lead when Garnett knocked down his first five shots, four of which were three-pointers. He missed just one field goal in the first half and went into halftime with 16 of UL’s 34 points.
“You know, he’s a 40-plus percent three-point shooter,” Marlin said of Garnett. “When he got a few tonight, he really felt it. We missed him.’
Similar to their last game, a one-point loss to Nicholls State, the Cajuns went cold early in the second half. UL made 2 of the first 11 field goals in the second half while the Bulldogs made 5 of 11 from the field to slowly build a lead.
“We did well in the first half, but we should have taken the lead,” said Marlin, whose team led by as many as five (30-25) and was tied 34-34 at halftime. “We misplayed a few things. Offensively, we had nine field goals in the second half and we didn’t guard like we should have.”
There were eleven lead changes in the first half, which ended with the Cajuns struggling to find the net with no field goals in the final four minutes.
Zeke Cook came off the bench early and hit two shots, which was a blow UL needed after Kyran Ratliff, who scored a career-high 25 points against Nicholls, picked up two quick fouls and was limited to one point in the first half.
A Cook free throw pulled UL within 59-51 with five minutes remaining. The Cajuns forced a turnover and Kyndall Davis (seven points, seven rebounds) scored inside to cut the lead to six, but Tech answered and UL missed the next possession.
Thomas, Cook and Davis each had seven points for the Cajuns, whose field goal percentage dropped from 46 to 36% after halftime.
Tech, which had four players in double figures led by Daniel Batcho’s double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds, outrebounded UL 36-22 with a 42-24 advantage in points in the paint. The Bulldogs committed eight turnovers to the Cajuns’ 20) and held a 14-8 edge in second-chance points.
“We should have more size on Wednesday as we hopefully add a few players,” said Marlin, who was without four players and expects to get Brandon Hardy and Jeremiah Evans back soon — possibly in time for Wednesday’s home game against Southeastern. Louisiana.
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