MONROE, La. – Frank Bartley led five players in double figures with 22 points as Louisiana-Lafayette won its 10th consecutive Sun Belt game, defeating ULM, 80-59, Saturday (Feb. 3) at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. ULL never trailed and broke open a tight game by outscoring the Warhawks, 42-26, in the second half.
 
Bartley hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the left corner as the Ragin' Cajuns jumped out to an 8-0 lead. Jordon Harris scored on a layup over JaKeenan Gant and Marvin Jean-Pierre completed a three-point play as ULM pulled to within 11-8 with 14:08 left in the first half. ULL answered with a 9-0 run to build a 12-point lead at 20-8 on Gant's layup with 10:40 remaining in the opening half. Trailing 35-24, ULM outscored the Ragin' Cajuns, 9-3, over the final 3:35 to cut its halftime deficit to 38-33. Bartley and Malik Marquetti combined for 24 first-half points.
 
ULL (20-3, 10-0 Sun Belt) opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to extend its lead to 45-35 on Bryce Washington's layup with 17:44 to play. Sam McDaniel scored on a layup and made 1-of-2 free throws after a technical foul as ULM (9-12, 3-7) closed the gap to 45-38 with 17:00 on the clock. The Ragin' Cajuns took control of the game with a 14-0 run as Bartley's two free throws gave ULL a 59-38 advantage. The Warhawks went scoreless for 4:36, missing six-straight shots from the floor and committing two turnovers during that decisive stretch. Washington's layup gave ULL its largest lead at 80-52 with 3:57 left.
 
For the game, ULL shot 55 percent (29-of-53) from the field, including 45 percent (9-of-20) from 3-point range. The Ragin' Cajuns outrebound ULM, 34-38, including an 18-9 margin in the second half.
 
ULM hit just 38 percent (22-58) of its shots from the floor, including 13 percent (2-of-15) from behind the 3-point arc. The Warhawks missed all eight of their 3-point field-goal attempts in the second half.
 
"Lafayette is a really good team," ULM head basketball coach Keith Richard said. "We knew that coming into today's game after watching Lafayette on film and studying the conference stats. And if you look at today's box score, it proves it again, as five players scored in double figures. They're solid at all five positions on the floor, and they have multiple all-conference players. They're a unique team because when you get into the bench, there's no drop off in scoring. So, they force you to keep up in the scoring department.
 
"Down by five points at the half, we felt we were in pretty good shape but knew we needed to put together a strong second half. After Lafayette got called for the technical early in the second half, we thought we were in position to make a run. Unfortunately, we had a long scoring drought and the game got away from us. We were disappointed in our 3-point shooting, and we had some open looks in the second half. Unfortunately, Lafayette wears you down physically and mentally. With Lafayette's ability to score, you almost have to be perfect on the offensive end of the floor to keep up with them.
 
"We're all disappointed in the outcome because we put a lot into preparing for this game. We need to review the film, learn from our mistakes and move on."
 
Bartley scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. Marquetti hit 6-of-11 field-goal attempts, including 4-of-5 3-pointers, and finished with 17 points. The Ragin' Cajuns also got 14 points from Gant and 12 each from Washington and Johnathan Stove.
 
Harris led ULM with 16 points while Travis Munnings contributed 14 points, with 10 coming in the first half.
 
The Warhawks return to Sun Belt action next week with road games at Georgia Southern (Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m.) and Georgia State (Saturday, Feb. 10 at 2:15 p.m.).