CAJUNS ROLL, MILESTONES REACHED IN 90-58 VICTORY OVER CMU

LAFAYETTE – Sophomore forward Shawn Long continued his strong shooting performance at home, scoring a team-high 26 points, and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns saw a pair of milestones reached in a wire-to-wire 90-58 victory over Central Methodist Monday night at the Cajundome.

Elfrid Payton scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half for Louisiana (9-4) and became the 40th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point barrier. The junior from Gretna, La., reached the mark when his three-point play with 17:04 remaining gave the Cajuns a 51-29 lead.

The win also marked the 400th career victory for Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin, who improved to 400-221 in his 21st season as a head coach. Marlin, in his fourth year as the Cajuns head coach, went 123-35 in five seasons at Pensacola Junior College (1990-95) before posting a 225-131 record in 12 seasons (1998-2010) at Sam Houston State.

Long, who grabbed 12 rebounds to post his eighth double-double of the season and 26th of his career, scored 11 points in a 17-0 opening run for the Cajuns. After entering the game with 13 consecutive made field goals dating back to an overtime victory over Houston on Dec. 14, the Morgan City native made his first five attempts against the NAIA Eagles and finished 11-for-15 from the floor.

Long opened the night with a three-point play at the 18:49 mark before following a Kevin Brown layup with a pair of 3-pointers that gave the Cajuns an 11-0 lead. Brown, who scored nine points, added a free throw and followed a Long jumper with a 3-pointer for a 17-0 lead with 14:47 remaining in the half.

CMU (7-8), an NAIA school based in Fayette, Mo., scored its first bucket of the game on a jumper by Mitchell Farr with 14:28 remaining in the half and closed to within 26-17 when Farr scored on a layup at the 8:45 mark.

Farr, who buried a school-record 12 3-pointers in his CMU debut earlier in the season against Park (Mo.), scored the first 17 points for the Eagles and finished with 26. The junior college transfer scored 20 points in the first half and finished 8-for-15 for the game.

Thirteen of Louisiana’s 14 players who saw action reached the scoring column as the Cajuns led 46-26 at halftime and led by as many as 35 points (90-55) when freshman Hayward Register scored on a layup in the final minute.

Kasey Shepherd added nine points for the Cajuns, who finished 34-for-69 from the field (49.3 percent) and 7-for-24 from behind the 3-point line. Senior Braylon Lazare came off the bench to add six points and four rebounds for the Cajuns while senior Bryant Mbamalu, who missed the team’s first 12 games with an injury, scored four points in 15 minutes.

Kaylim Noel added nine points for CMU, which finished 21-for-57 (36.8 percent) from the floor. The Eagles committed 20 turnovers which led to a 29 points for the Cajuns.

Louisiana will return to action on Saturday when it opens Sun Belt Conference play at ULM. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.