DENVER—Chase Hallam scored a career-high 20 points Saturday night as Denver defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 63-47 and wrapped up the No. 6 seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
Denver, Lafayette and Florida Atlantic all finished with 10-8 conference records, but Denver won the tiebreaker by virtue of its head-to-head record vs. those schools (1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic and 1-1 vs. Lafayette).
Brian Stafford added 14 points for the Pioneers (17-12, 10-8 Sun Belt) and Nate Rohnert had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Denver held the Ragin’ Cajuns to a season-low 47 points and their leading scorer, Tyren Johnson, at bay most of the game. Johnson led Louisiana-Lafayette (13-16, 10-8) with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
Denver will face the Sun Belt’s No. 11 seed (either FIU or New Orleans) in the first round of the conference tournament March 6. Lafayette gets the No. 7 or 8 seed, depending on the outcomes of other games Saturday night.
Johnson scored his first points of the game from the free-throw line a minute into the second half and made his first field goal, a 3-pointer, with 15:04 left that got Lafayette within 32-28. Rohnert’s reverse layup put Denver ahead 37-28, but the Ragin’ Cajuns whittled the lead to 45-41 on Willie Lago’s 3-pointer with 5:40 to go.
Denver answered with three straight 3-pointers, two by Stafford, to extend its lead to 54-41. Louisiana Lafayette was never closer than 11 the rest of the way. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished 1-8 on the road in conference play and 3-12 overall away from home.
The Pioneers led 27-21 at intermission, getting 11 points from Hallam before the break. Johnson was 0 for 6 in the first half, including two air balls.
The Ragin’ Cajuns missed their first five shots, but held a 12-9 lead after a 3-pointer by Travis Bureau and Javan Mitchell’s jump shot. Hallam’s 3-pointer put Denver up 17-15 and Denver closed the half with a 6-0 run.
