By Kenneth Cross
ESTERO, Fla. – After Long Beach State and Louisiana lost in round one of the Gulf Coast Showcase, The Beach and the Rajin’ Cajuns pocketed a pair of wins on Tuesday in order to try to pick up two wins and a fifth-place finish.
Long Beach, who fell to Illinois State, bounced back with it’s potent offensive attack in subduing the Iona Gaels, 80-76. Jadon Jones led five LBSU players in double figures as The Beach shot 47.4 percent and had 14 steals, a key part of the Gaels’ 18 turnovers.
The Beach trailed 58-50 on Iden Tretout’s jumper with 12:40 remaining in the game, but Lassina Treore had a pair of scores to push LBSU back into the lead at 59-58 when dynamic point guard Messiah Thompson scored on a three-point field goal.
Tretout had four quick points after Thompson’s jumper gave LBSU a 68-67 lead late in the game.
From there, Jadon Jones hit a three-point field goal and was fouled a made a free throw for the 72-71 advantage which helped The Beach to the win.
LBSU was led by 21 points off of the 18 Gaels’ turnovers while Tretout paced five Gaels in double figures with 17 points.
Louisiana 68, Buffalo 60
Louisiana Guard Kobe Julien scored 30 points in 35 minutes as the Rajin’ Cajuns withstood a second half Buffalo comeback, 68-60.
Julien hit a key jumper with 2:58 remaining to give Louisiana a 61-56 lead and then sealed the game in the clutch with four free throws. Julien was a tough matchup for the Bulls as he scored twice in the paint and 10 in a row to give the Rajin’ Cajuns a 25-12 lead in the first half with 5:20 to play.
Louisiana led 33-21 at halftime and extended it’s lead to 39-25 when Joe Charles hit a pair of free throws with 16:30 to play.
The Bulls fought back to within three on five occasions before Julien sealed the win at the free throw line for Louisiana.
The key for the Rajin’ Cajuns was scoring 15 points off of 15 Buffalo turnovers.
Sy Chatman and Shawn Fulcher posted 13 points each for the Bulls, who held Louisiana to 36.7 percent in the second half which gave them a chance for the win.