Men's Basketball 2/17/2011 11:51:00 PM ArkansasState

Red Wolves Storm Back From First-Half Deficit But Fall Short At ULL

LAFAYETTE, La. (2/17/11) – Senior guard Rashad Allison scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Arkansas State men's basketball team back from an 11-point first half deficit but were ultimately unable to hang on to the lead and fell 64-61 to Louisiana-Lafayette Thursday night at the Cajun Dome.

The loss dropped the Red Wolves back to .500 on the season at 14-14 and to 8-5 in league action. The Ragin' Cajuns also moved to 8-5 with the win in the conference and moved to 11-14 overall.

It was a tale of two halves for the Red Wolves who shot 28.6% (6-21) in the first half and were outrebounded 29-18.

In the second half, ASU was able to outscore ULL 43-35 and shot 15-28 from the field for a 53.6-percentage. ASU also outrebounded the Ragin' Cajuns 16-7 in the second half.

ASU trailed 29-18 at the break but were able to take the lead for the first time around the 10:54 mark on a layup by freshman guard Ed Townsel, 42-41.

Senior forward Jeremy Thomas gave the Red Wolves the lead again on their next possession to go up 44-43. However, ASU was unable to hold the lead for more than one possession. The Red Wolves got back within one point on three more occasions including with just seven seconds remaining on a layup by Allison.

ASU got the ball out of bounds with just six seconds remaining but did not get a clean look at the basket after Townsel was called on a double-dribble while taking the ball down the floor.

“The last five minutes of the first half and the last 20 minutes we really played well, we had a chance to win the game in spite of getting off to a poor start,” said ASU head coach John Brady. “But I don't think we played poorly defensively, we stopped them, and we just missed some shots early. They're a good team, we're a good team and it was a close game we just didn't pull it out.”

Allison was 8-11 from the field and 8-11 from the free throw line in the game and had six rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot while also going 2-3 from three-point range.

Senior guard Donald Boone was the only other Red Wolves player in double-digit scoring with 10 points.

Junior forward Martavius Adams led the Red Wolves with seven boards while also pouring in nine points. Sophomore forward Brandon Peterson and Trey Finn also had six rebounds for ASU, Peterson picked up three blocked shots while Finn had three steals.

ASU outscored ULL 28-26 in the paint and took advantage of 11 Ragin' Cajuns turnovers to score 12 points off turnovers to ULL's seven. The Red Wolves were outrebounded 34-36 in the contest.

The Red Wolves held ULL to a 35.2% shooting percentage (19-54) and 37.5% from the three-point line (3-8). ULL did take advantage of its free throw attempts shooting a blistering 85.2% (23-27).

Next up for the Red Wolves is a road contest at Troy on Saturday.

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