SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team saw their season come to an end on Tuesday night in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament against visiting University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  The Ragin' Cajuns used a strong second half to win 83-68 in front of 1,811 fans at the McDermott Center.

The Cardinals (18-11) played one of their best halves of the season in the first half and one of their worst in the second half.  UIW scored the first six points in the game and led by as many as 12 points in the first period after a pair of free throws by Shawn Johnson (Gretna, LA/Alief Hastings HS) with 7:11 left.

The Ragin' Cajuns (21-13) slowed the Cardinals down for a bit in the first half, but they did not have an answer for Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) who scored 17 points in the period, including a three-pointer with 1:52 left to give UIW a 39-29 lead.  Louisiana cut the lead in half before the halftime buzzer sounded thanks to a dunk from Devonta Walker and a three-pointer by Kasey Shepherd.

The last five points of the first half were a harbinger of things to come in the second half.  Louisiana scored the first nine points of the half and never trailed after taking the lead with 18:16 remaining on a layup by Bryce Washington.  The Ragin' Cajuns made a halftime adjustment where they went from playing man-to-man defense to a zone and it flummoxed the Cardinals into a poor offensive performance.  UIW only scored 10 points through the first 13 minutes of the half and by that time the lead was 22 points for the visitors and the game was effectively over.

The Cardinals shot 40.3 percent from the field, made 10-of-28 from three-point range and were 8-of-12 at the foul line.  Hittle finished with 19 points before fouling out.  Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy-Falls HS) had a strong game with 14 points, eight assists and four assists.  Johnson chipped in with 10 points and a team high seven rebounds.  UIW committed 16 turnovers and were outscored, 44-28 on points in the paint.

The Ragin' Cajuns used good passing and a strong inside game to shoot 53.6 percent from the field while notching 24 assists on their 30 made shots.  They were 7-of-17 from three-point range and 16-of-23 at the foul line.  Washington poured in 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor.  Shawn Long added 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists while Register Hayward had 12 points on four three-pointers.  Jay Wright dished out seven assists.

The Cardinals concluded their second season as a member of NCAA Division I with their first post season appearance since the 2009-10 season.  Two seniors, Denzel Livingston (Houston/Waltrip HS) and Winslo Barry (Nassau, Bahamas/Tyler JC) played their final games for the program.
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