Bartley, top-seeded Ragin’ Cajuns blow past Texas State in Sun Belt quarterfinals

NEW ORLEANS – Frank Bartley scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and the top-seeded Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns used a 26-4 run in the first half to pull away and defeat Texas State, 80-54, in a Sun Belt Conference Championship quarterfinal game on Friday at Lakefront Arena.

Justin Miller and Jerekius Davis combined for 26 of the Ragin’ Cajuns 40 points from its bench as Louisiana (27-5) advanced to the semifinals for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

The Ragin’ Cajuns will face fourth-seeded UT Arlington (20-12), an 84-63 winner over Appalachian State, on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The game can be heard in the Lafayette area on KHXT 107.9-FM and on the Hot 107.9 app. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN3.

Marcus Stroman dished out eight assists while scoring eight of his 10 points in the second half as the Ragin’ Cajuns built a 37-15 lead at halftime and held No. 9-seeded Texas State (15-18) to 6-for-25 (24.0 percent) shooting from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

“In the first half, we did a really good job defensively and held them (Texas State) to six field goals,” head coach Bob Marlin said. “We gave up an upfield pass for a layup or it would have been five. I was really proud of our defense early. We wanted to win the second half and we did that by four (points). We got to face a good team in Texas State and they’re hard to play, so we’re excited to win this game and advance to the semifinals.”

Louisiana trailed 5-4 early in the half before a bucket by Bartley and a pair of 3-pointers by Miller gave the Ragin’ Cajuns the lead for good. A layup by Texas State’s Eric Terry cut the lead to 12-7 with 12:14 remaining in the first half, but Louisiana answered with three consecutive 3-pointers as freshman Cedric Russell drained a pair and Davis added one that would push the lead to 21-7.

“I think our focus was there from the (opening) jump,” Bartley said. “The loss we had on Senior Night was a big wakeup call that we needed. I’d rather lose any game at home than lose the first round of the tournament. So, we came out hungry and everybody stepped up.”

Bryce Washington added a pair of buckets, including a putback dunk, as Louisiana pushed its lead to 30-9 with 5:33 remaining in the first half and allowed its fewest points in the opening period since giving up 15 to ULM on Jan. 13 at the Cajundome.

Miller, who provided a spark for the Ragin’ Cajuns playing in the majority of the game in place of JaKeenan Gant (illness), scored 14 points on 5-for-8 aim from the floor and tying a career-high with four 3-pointers. Davis finished 12 points on an identical 5-for-8 from the floor as Louisiana’s bench eclipsed the 40-point mark for the seventh time during the 2017-18 season.

“We feel like we’ve got the deepest bench in the league and we knew that we would need them,” Marlin said. “JaKeenan (Gant) has been under the weather for the last couple of days, and we had guys step up. It’s pretty impressive that you don’t have the (Sun Belt) Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year out there on the court and still win a game by 26 points. That’s a compliment to our bench and our guys one through 15.”

Bartley, who tied a season-high with five 3-pointers, opened a 9-0 run for Louisiana in the second half with a 3-pointer after Texas State whittled the lead to 47-26 on a bucket by Immanuel King with 16:36 left. Davis followed with a bucket for the Ragin’ Cajuns before Stroman scored on two straight possessions and giving Louisiana a 56-26 lead at the 13:53 mark.

“We played a very talented team today,” Texas State head coach Danny Kaspar said. “We were playing in front of a very good Louisiana crowd and they took it to us. After the first six-seven minutes, it was all them. They shot the ball well from three. We played four poor games all year and two of them were to Louisiana, and almost the exact scores.”

Nijal Pearson led Texas State, which dropped nine of its final 10 games of the season, with 14 points with Tyler Blount adding nine.