The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team came into this Wednesday night contest versus the ULM Warhawks winners of five straight. Bob Marlin’s team got up big in the first half and never relinquished their lead as Louisiana improved to 14-8 and 7-3 in conference play with an 80-72 win on Wednesday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Themus Fulks scored the first points of the game as he was fouled in the paint by Savion Gallion and made both of his free throws. Gallion responded with a turnaround bank layup but then Kobe Julien made a contested jumper and Hosana Kitenge made it an early 6-2 lead for the Cajuns with a couple from the charity stripe.

Louisiana went on an 11-4 as Joe Charles got hot quickly with back-to-back made three-pointers. Kitenge got one in the paint then Charles made another from distance to put the Cajuns up by eight less than seven minutes into the game. Fulks assisted on all of Charles’ shots during the run.

ULM made two straight shots but then Louisiana went a 9-0 run as Julien scored the first four, then Michael Thomas had the other five points with a three-pointer and mid-range jumper with the Cajuns going up 26-13.

After back-to-back layups by Tyrese Watson to make it a single-digit deficit, the Cajuns came right back with another quick 8-0 run. Thomas hit his second three, then Julien intercepted the pass from Nika Metskhvarishvili, and went coast to coast for the dunk. Free throws by Fulks and Kitenge put Louisiana up by 17 with 8:05 left in the first half.

Following a timeout, the Warhawks went on a 9-5 run of their own as Metskhvarishvili made three straight jump shots and Jacob Wilson had an and-one layup to cut into the Cajuns’ lead.

Thomas made two more shots for Louisiana, including a buzzer-beating floater as the Cajuns went into the half up 46-34.

ULM made it a point of emphasis to attack the paint as players like Watson and Gallion were both making contested layups while Louisiana struggled to put the ball in the basket outside of a jumper by Fulks and a cutting layup by Charles.

After a timeout at the 15:40 mark, Julien ended the Cajun scoring drought with three-straight threes in an 11-1 run that forced ULM to burn a timeout and put Louisiana up 62-43 with 12:45 left in the second half.

Gallion made the first three-point shot of the game from the corner midway through the second half but Charles responded with a corner three of his to keep the Cajuns’ lead at 17.

The Warhawks to it to just a 10-point deficit with a 10-2 run that was highlighted by the team’s second made three of the game, again from the corner but this time was shot by Watson.

Kitnage scored four straight to put the Cajuns up by 14 but Watson and Gallion made it a 75-65 game with 4:14 to go with a couple of made layups.

One last layup by Charles and a few made three throws by Julien and Fulks helped secure an 80-72 win over the ULM Warhawks. Louisiana improved to 14-8 on the season and 7-3 in conference play with the win.

BIG NUMBER: 16

ULM gave up the basketball numerous times with 16 turnovers on the night compared to the Cajuns’ nine. Nine of those turnovers by the Warhawks were steals by Bob Marlin’s team.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Joe Charles

Multiple guys came up big scoring for the Cajuns on Wednesday night but Charles was the first of three players on the team to get hot from three. The Carencro product finished the game with 19 points on 7-16 shooting (5-11 from 3) while also grabbing 11 rebounds, had three assists, and three steals in the 80-72 win for Louisiana.

UP NEXT: The Lousiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team will be back at home again on Saturday night as South Alabama comes into town. Tip-off in the Cajundome is set for 7:00 p.m.