Louisiana throttles Texas St. 80-55 behind barrage of 3s

Jan 21, 2018, 02:04 am

SAN MARCOS, Texas -- 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.