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LAFAYETTE, La. – Louisiana-Lafayette held a 25-point lead at halftime and Bryant Mbamalu had a game-high 32 points in the Ragin' Cajuns 102-74 victory over the University of South Alabama men's basketball team Sunday afternoon in the Cajundome.

ULL wins for the seventh time in eight games to move to 19-10 overall and 10-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. USA drops to 9-20 and 3-13, and is eliminated from contention for the Sun Belt Tournament.

The Cajuns outscored the Jags 25-6 over an 11-minute span in the first half, including 12 unanswered, to score the most first-half points by a USA opponent all season.

"We knew coming in it was a must-win game for us and it was going to be a tough game on the road against a very good team that's competing to get a bye to the semifinals in Sun Belt Tournament," Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. "We really struggled to get any kind of rhythm going because we were giving up too many second-chance buckets—they absolutely crushed us on the glass—and they had 13 points in transition at halftime. At every media timeout we were asking the guys to get rebounds and sprint back in transition. When you're asking them to do that at every media, that's how you get down 25 points."

Mbamalu scored 11 of his 17 first-half points in the opening 4:07 of the contest and reached the 1,000-point mark in his career with his final point of the night. He went 5-for-7 from 3-point land and 10-for-19 from the floor overall.

"They did a great job of finding him early and he got in a great rhythm," Graves said. "When a guy like that is their third wheel and he really gets going, that allows (Shawn) Long and (Elfrid) Payton to do a lot of damage. I thought Long played as well tonight as I've seen him play in a long time. He attacked and almost had a double-double at halftime so was really engaged."

Long had 20 points and 10 rebounds to go along with two assists and three blocks.

Freshman Ken Williams (Manvel, Texas) and sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) each recorded a career scoring night. Williams tallied 22 on the strength of five 3-pointers while Stevens added 18, converting all four long-range attempts. The pair combined for 29 of the team's 49 points in the second half.

ULL used a pair of 9-0 runs to grab a 12-point lead midway through the opening half. The first turned a two-point deficit into a seven-point advantage. USA scored nine of the next 14 points to stay within three, but another nine-point burst opened up a 28-16 bulge, concluding with an old-fashioned three-point play from J.J. Davenport.

Stevens did his best to keep the Jaguars close with a pair of triples, but his 3-pointer with 7:56 to play in the first half would be the team's last before halftime. Louisiana-Lafayette took advantage, scoring 12 straight to double up South Alabama 44-22.

"The first matchup we had against them, we were 21-for-26 on 2-point field goals," Graves said. "The whole emphasis for us was to get the ball in the paint and make a play at the rim. We didn't do that; we had six points in the paint at halftime and they had 30."

Senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) just missed a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds, and added four blocks to break into the league's career top 25 in that category.

The Jaguars return home for the final two games of the season beginning with Texas State Thursday at 7:05 p.m.

NOTES: The last South Alabama opponent to score 100 points was New Orleans on Feb. 5, 1995… Louisiana-Lafayette reached the 100-point barrier for the third time in the series history between the two schools, the last occasion coming on Jan. 26, 1995… The 28-point victory is ULL's largest against USA… The Cajuns snapped a four-game losing streak to the Jags… Mbamalu is the third opposing player to hit the 30-point mark this season and his 32 points are the second most… Jaguar opponents have scored 48 points or more in the second half five times in the last seven games… ULL shot 66.7 percent (16-24) in the second half and 61.7 percent (37-60) for the contest… Long has three double-doubles in four career games vs. South Alabama… Williams tied his personal best with five treys and Stevens set a new career mark with four… Stevens' 4-for-4 long-range performance is the team's best this season… Rubit has multiple blocks in each of his last five outings and is averaging 3.4 per game over that span… USA's minus-20 rebounding margin today is a season low… The Cajuns outrebounded the Jags 21-15 on ULL's offensive end of the floor.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—