On a night when point guard Elfrid Payton notched his 1,000th career point and head coach Bob Marlin got his 400th career win, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns basketball team closed out the 2013 portion of their schedule with a 90-58 win over Central Methodist Monday night at the Cajundome.

The Cajuns scored the first seventeen points of the game before CMU guard Mitchell Farr caught fire, scoring the Eagles' first seventeen points.to cut the Louisiana lead to 28-17 at the 7:54 mark.

But Louisiana (9-4) held CMU scoreless over the next four minutes and extended the lead to 35-17 before taking a 46-26 lead into the locker room.

Shawn Long scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half and finished 11-15 from the field and 2-3 from three point range in just 23 minutes of action.  Long collected 12 rebounds to finish with another double-double.

Payton finished the first half with seven points and 999 for his career before hitting a layup early in the second half to become the 40th Cajun to reach the 1,000 point plateau.  He had ten points in the second half to finish with seventeen points, including 7-8 from the charity stripe.  He also added seven assists in 26 minutes of action.

The game also marked the return of guard Bryant Mbamalu to the Cajuns lineup.  The senior from Houston, Texas had missed the first twelve games with a foot injury.  He played fifteen minutes Monday night, scoring four points, with two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Everyone who was dressed out played at least four minutes in the game and 13 different Cajuns scored in the contest.  The Cajuns shot 49.3% from the floor (34-69), 7-24 (29.2% from the three point line and 15-22 from the charity stripe.

Elridge Moore missed his third straight game with an ankle injury.  He remains day-to-day.

Farr was the only double figure scorer for the Eagles (7-8) with 26 points, but only six after intermission.

The Cajuns held CMU to 36.8 percent shooting and forced 20 turnovers in the contest.

Marlin has now won 400 games in his 21 year career, including stints at Pensacola Junior College and Sam Houston State before coming to Louisiana for the 2010-11 season.

Louisiana now opens conference play this Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum against Louisiana-Monroe.  The game is part of a men's/women's doubleheader beginning at 2pm.  Men's action is scheduled for 4:30pm.

 

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