Louisiana College on target in dominant win over Belhaven

PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana College men’s basketball team found the range from deep early and often during its game against Belhaven on Monday night, sinking 17 three-pointers and busting out to a 38-point lead in a wire-to-wire 91-64 win over the Blazers Monday night at H.O. West Fieldhouse.

The tone for the game was set right off of the tip as the Wildcats took control and not even 15 seconds later Kae’ron Baker rose up for a corner three to give LC the lead for good. That was the start of 11 straight points to start the contest for the Wildcats as a Ferontay Banks three about a minute and a half later made it 11-0 LC, forcing the Blazers into a very early timeout.

Belhaven didn’t go away quickly though, as they responded with nine out of the next ten thanks to three made three balls of their own to cut the LC lead to just 12-9. But after allowing the Blazers to hang around for a few more minutes, the Wildcats pulled away for good. Leading 18-15, a KJ Bilbo fastbreak lay-up started a half-ending 33-10 run, which included several spurts of seven to ten unanswered points, that put the Wildcats in a dominant position heading into the break as a Malik Cooper transition jumper made the halftime score 51-25 LC.

With control of the game secured, the Wildcats would make sure there would be no run to allow Belhaven back into the contest, only continuing to build the lead until it finally hit its peak at 38 points with 8:11 remaining in the contest when Galen Smith, Jr. split a pair of free throws to give LC an 80-42 advantage and the Wildcats coasted to the victory from that point.

Ferontay Banks hit five of his six attempts from long range on his way to a 20-point night to lead all scorers while also dishing out seven assists and stole the ball four times from the Blazers. Kae’ron Baker and KJ Bilbo each finished with 15 points with Baker hitting a trio of threes and also dished out five assists. Jonathan Taylor came off the bench and got into a rhythm with four made threes on the night for 12 points. Bailey Hardy filled up the stat sheet with six points, eight assists, and nine rebounds.

It was working on all cylinders for the Wildcats in Monday night’s win as the team shot 50% from the field overall, and even better from deep at 53.1% from above the arc. The 17 made three-point shots was the most on the season by LC. Defensively was no different as the Wildcats held Belhaven (3-8, 2-7 ASC) to just 39.1% shooting and just 29.4% from three.

The Wildcats (6-4, 6-4 ASC) now head out on the road for this weekend for a pair of contests, trying to better their positioning as we draw closer to the close of the season. The first game of the weekend road trip is Thursday night as the Wildcats head to Arkansas for a date with Ozarks. Tip-off of the game against the Eagles (3-2, 3-2 ASC) in Clarksville is set for 7:30 P.M. at Mabee Gymnasium.