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NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana-Lafayette used a 12-0 first-half run to build a double-digit lead and Shawn Long led all scorers with 34 points as the Cajuns eliminated the University of South Alabama men's basketball team from the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 90-68 win Friday evening in the quarterfinals.

The Jaguars end their season at 14-19. The Cajuns are 17-13 and will play No. 1 seed Little Rock Saturday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals.

"First and foremost, I'd like to congratulate Louisiana-Lafayette on a great win," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "Coach (Bob) Marlin and those guys did an outstanding job. They were very physical, did a nice job causing us to turn the ball over, they rebounded the ball at a high rate and if they make 10 or more 3s they are going to be a really tough out in this tournament."

South Alabama was without leading scorer and Third Team All-Sun Belt performer Ken Williams (Houston, Texas), who missed the game with a broken foot.

"I think it's just a different game if he plays," Graves said. "Our rotations are a little bit tighter and they have to guard us a little bit differently when he is in the ball game, so it's hard to say that when you take any player out of the game – different things happen. But there is no question we missed his leadership and shot-making ability."

ULL began their run with the score tied at 12-12 with 14:20 on the clock. Four different Cajuns contributed points, led by Long's four, but it was the UL Lafayette defense that played a crucial role, forcing six USA turnovers on just two field-goal attempts.

The Jaguars went almost seven minutes in between field goals, committing eight turnovers in that span.

Two free throws from junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) stopped the run, but the Cajuns added five more unanswered points to take a 29-14 lead with eight minutes left in the half.

After Long opened the second half with a triple, South Alabama scored nine of the next 11 points – four from senior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) to close to 10 points, but Louisiana-Lafayette hit back for six unanswered and 14 of the next 16 to open up a 22-point bulge, and led by no fewer than 15 the rest of the way.

"At the end of the day, I thought that we competed and did some good things, but you have to give a lot of credit to Louisiana, they made a lot of great plays and played tough and physical," Graves noted. "That is the thing that I am probably the most disappointed about  - I didn't think we were tough enough to the basketball. Fifty-fifty balls, I think we got beat to them. Whether we played last night or not is really not an excuse. We have got to get the job done and understand that the ball is very valuable, and we just didn't go after it the way we needed to."

Long went 13 for 20 from the floor and 5 for 6 from 3-point land for his highest point total in nine career games against South Alabama.

"He's nearly impossible to stop when he's making 3s," Graves said.

Stevens paced the Jaguars with 13 points and three assists in his final career game. Stover tallied 11 points and sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) added 10 points and five rebounds.

USA's other senior, John Brown (Charlotte, N.C.) finished with seven points, all in the second half.

"I wanted to thank (the seniors), and I started with Barrington because I've been with him for three years – he's been here the entire time I've been a head coach – and in year one we won 11 games and didn't even make the postseason," Graves said. "Last year we won 12 and go to the postseason and won a game, and this year we won 14 and won a game in the tournament. It's not great progress, but we're moving in the right direction, and that's something he can look back on."

NOTES: South Alabama has increased its win total in each of the last three seasons… The Jaguars shot a season-high 85.7 percent (18-21) from the free-throw line… Stevens finishes his career with 300 assists, eighth best in school history; he is also 12th in career 3-pointers (110) and 3-point attempts (317)… Juniors Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) and Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) had nine points each; MuepoKelly added three steals for the second straight game to tie his career high, and two blocks… Sophomore Nick Davis (Mt. Vernon, Ala.) shared team-high honors with Calhoun with five rebounds, and also recorded two blocks and steals apiece… USA had just one offensive rebound and lost the rebounding battle 41-23; the team's minus-18 rebounding margin is a season low… South Alabama lost the points in the paint 40-22, points off turnovers 27-7 and second-chance points 20-2; it marked season lows in turnovers and second chance, and tied for second lowest in the paint… Long's point total is the highest by an opposing player this season… Tonight is the third-worst SBC Tournament loss in school history… The Jags improved to 2-16 this season when outshooting their opponent… Stover ends the season with a five-game double-digit scoring streak, averaging 12.8 points over that span… Calhoun averaged 11.6 ppg in his final five games of the year and had two games with 15 or more… Long averaged 19.8 points and 11.0 rebounds with six double-doubles in his career vs. South Alabama.

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).

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