LAFAYETTE, La. Freshman guard Brian Stafford (Walnut Creek, Calif.) scored a game-high and career-high 25 points, but the University of Denver men’s basketball team were edged 63-62 by Louisiana-Lafayette in double overtime at Cajundome on Saturday afternoon.

 

“We keep getting better every day, and our guys battled today, but give credit to Louisiana-Lafayette,” head coach Joe Scott said. “We are seeing progress, and we know that if the players keep doing all the important things, we will get the results we want.”

 

In addition to Stafford, Denver (6-8, 1-2 SBC) got 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds from sophomore forward Rob Lewis (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

 

Louisiana-Lafayette (5-8, 2-1 SBC) was led by La’Ryan Gary’s eight rebounds and15 points, two of which came on free throws with four seconds left in the second overtime to give the Cajuns their winning margin.

 

ULL’s Chris Gradnigo opened the game outscoring Denver 7-1 in the first four minutes before freshman forward Justin Coughlin (Yuma, Colo.) drilled a three-pointer.

 

The Cajuns ran off five more unanswered points before junior guard Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) connected with Stafford on a pair of backdoor layups to stop the skid.

 

Rob Lewis nailed a three-pointer and a backdoor layup. Sophomore guard Kyle Lewis (Denver, Colo.) followed with another backdoor layup and a three-pointer of his own.

 

Rob Lewis scored five more, and Stafford capped DU’s 23-0 run, when his jumper was goaltended at the 3:05 mark, leaving the Pioneers with a 27-12 lead.

 

The Cajuns ended the half with five points in the final minute, but Denver headed to halftime with a 27-17 advantage after shooting 47.6 percent from the field and holding ULL to just 25.0 percent.

 

Rohnert started the second half with a reverse layup, but the Ragin’ Cajuns scored six straight points to cut the lead to six with 15:26 remaining.

 

Stafford traded buckets with the Cajuns, scoring on a jumper, a pair of three-pointers and a free throw in two minutes to increase DU’s lead to 38-28 with 13:29 left.

 

ULL went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three points with 8:48 remaining, but freshman guard Sabatino Chen (Louisville, Colo.) scored on a backdoor layup with 7:51 on the clock to stop the drought.

 

The Cajuns cut the lead to one with 5:40 remaining, but Stafford drilled a shot from 10 feet beyond the three-point line as the shot clock expired, and Rohnert hit a pair of free throws to put the score at 47-41 with 4:45 remaining.

 

Louisiana-Lafayette tied the score at 47-47 with 2:06 left, and the Cajuns took the lead on a free throw with 1:17 remaining.

 

Kyle Lewis put Denver back on top by a point with a jumper off the glass at the 59 second mark.

 

A dunk by Lamar Roberson gave ULL a 50-49 lead with 51 seconds remaining.

 

Chen tied the score at 51-51 with a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining, sending the game into overtime.

 

In overtime, the teams traded buckets, and a pull-up jumper by Stafford left the score tied at 1:31 remaining, and it stayed there at the end of the first overtime.

 

Rohnert opened the second overtime with a pair of free throws to give Denver the lead, but Randell Daigle hit a fade away jumper 30 seconds later to tie it again and a free throw at 4:05 to give the Cajuns a one point lead.

 

Trailing by one point with 25 seconds left, Denver took the ball down the court, and Stafford got fouled crossing half court. Stafford hit both free throws to give the Pioneers a 62-61 lead with 17 seconds remaining.

 

The Pioneers return home to face Arkansas State at Magness Arena on Thurs., Jan. 8 at 7 p.m.

 

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