Louisiana-Lafayette ousts Middle Tennessee

Louisiana-Lafayette (19-8) will play New Orleans, an 80-65 winner over Arkansas-Little Rock in Monday’s other semifinal, for the championship Tuesday night.

Hamilton was 8-of-9 from the floor. Brad Boyd scored 14 points, while Orien Greene added 13 points and Antoine Landry 12 for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who started the game 12-of-16 from the floor.

Middle Tennessee (17-12) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half but stayed in the game with a strong second-half run. The Blue Raiders drew as close as 58-57 on Tommy Gunn’s 3-point shot with 5:43 to play.

Louisiana-Lafayette then went on an 8-0 run over a 3:15 stretch, capping it with a 3-point basket by Greene and a free throw by Dwayne Mitchell.

Middle Tennessee stayed in the game with 24-of-41 shooting (58.5 percent), including 8-of-14 from 3-point range, and a 30-22 edge in rebounding. However, the Blue Raiders had 20 turnovers.

Gunn led Middle Tennessee with 20 points. Michael Cuffee added 15 and Marcus Robinson 13.