Louisiana throttles Texas St. 80-55 behind barrage of 3s (Jan 20, 2018)

By AP
Published

SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) Malik Marquetti scored 19 points, Frank Bartley IV and Justin Miller each scored 14, and Louisiana strengthened its grip atop the Sun Belt Conference with an 80-55 win against Texas State on Saturday.

Louisiana (17-3, 7-0) sits 1 1/2 games ahead of second place Texas State (13-8, 6-2) and has won seven straight and 14 of its last 15. The loss snapped the Bobcats' six-game win streak.

Louisiana never trailed and made it 20-6 when Johnathan Stove made a layup, Marquetti and Bartley had consecutive 3s and Bryce Washington had a dunk with nine minutes before halftime. The Bobcats got back-to-back 3-point plays from Isaiah Gurley and Tre'Larenz Nottingham and Immanuel King added layup to narrow the deficit to 20-14. The Ragin' Cajuns then closed the half with a 12-6 run.

The lead went to 45-28 four minutes into the second half with Marquetti burying two 3s and Bartley adding another. Louisiana was 13 of 25 (52 percent) from 3-point range.

Shelby Adams led Texas State with 10 points.