LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - James Gallman scored 14 points and Marcos Knight added 12 as Middle Tennessee defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 72-58 Thursday night in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
The Blue Raiders (5-1) led by as many as 11 points, 36-25, with 2:52 left in the first half, but the Ragin' Cajuns (2-5) cut their deficit to 38-32 at halftime.
A jumper by Shawn Long, who finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds, gave Louisiana-Lafayette a 48-47 lead with 11:20 remaining in the game, but Middle Tennessee then used a 14-1 run to seize control.
Bruce Massey's only basket of the game started the run, which included five points by Gallman and three turnovers by the Ragin' Cajuns.
Jason Jones scored 11 points and Tweety Knight 10 for Middle Tennessee.
Steven Wronkoski had 13 points for Louisiana-Lafayette, and Bryant Mbamalu and Elfrid Payton scored 11 each.
| Scoreboard | |||
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
| Middle Tennessee (5-1) « | 38 | 34 | 72 |
| Louisiana-Lafayette (2-5) | 32 | 26 | 58 |
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| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| N. Hunter, F | 26 | 1-5 | 2-4 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| S. Jones, F | 18 | 0-4 | 3-4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| M. Knight, G | 34 | 5-16 | 0-0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| J. Gallman, G | 23 | 4-10 | 4-5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
| B. Massey, G | 17 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| R. Cintron | 22 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| J. Jones | 17 | 5-5 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| J. Sulton | 17 | 0-3 | 5-6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| T. Knight | 16 | 5-5 | 0-1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| K. Hammonds | 10 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Totals | 25-60 | 15-22 | 40 | 10 | 19 | 72 | |
| 41.7% | 68.2% | ||||||
| Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| S. Long, F | 39 | 8-17 | 1-2 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| E. Moore, F | 28 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| E. Payton, G | 36 | 4-10 | 3-4 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 11 |
| B. Mbamalu, G | 34 | 5-11 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| S. Wronkoski, G | 27 | 3-4 | 5-5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| K. Brown | 17 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Soto | 7 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Moss | 6 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| K. Shepherd | 4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Lazare | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| C. Barnett | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 22-54 | 10-13 | 31 | 9 | 18 | 58 | |
| 40.7% | 76.9% | ||||||
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