PENSACOLA, Fla. — Sophomore forward Jordan Brown dropped a career-high 31 points to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 79-72 quarterfinal upset of Sun Belt regular-season champion and No. 1-seeded Texas State at the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
Brown shot .583 (7-of-12) from the floor and .833 (5-of-6) from the charity stripe in the second half to propel No. 8-seeded Louisiana to Semifinal Sunday.
Junior guard Greg Williams Jr. also netted 15 points for the Ragin’ Cajuns—with the duo of Brown and Williams Jr. providing nearly 60 percent of Louisiana's scoring in the quarterfinal victory.
With the win, the Ragin’ Cajuns advance to the tournament semifinals—where they will take on the winner of No. 12-seeded Little Rock and No. 4-seeded Troy at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 6.
Four Bobcats scored in double-digits—led by 16 from senior guard Mason Harrell. Louisiana junior forward Theo Akwuba and Texas State senior forward Isiah Small tied for the game-high with 11 rebounds each. Despite the loss, Texas State is guaranteed a postseason berth into the NIT as the Sun Belt regular-season champion.