PENSACOLA, Fla. – Greg Williams, Jr. and Theo Akwuba combined for 31 points to lead No. 8 Louisiana Men’s Basketball into the Sun Belt Championship game with a 66-57 defeat of No. 4 Troy Sunday afternoon at the Pensacola Bay Center.
 
Louisiana will play the winner of App State and Georgia State at 6 p.m. (CT) Monday. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
 
For the Ragin’ Cajuns, tomorrow will mark their ninth Sun Belt championship appearance. Louisiana is 6-2 in previous contests taking the conference crown in 1992, 1994, 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2015. The 2004 and 2005 victories were later vacated due to NCAA sanctions.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns are the highest seed to advance to the title game in conference history.
 
Williams Jr. went 2-4 from beyond the arc and 4-6 from the free-throw line to bolster his scoring. The Lafayette, La. native also added five rebounds.
 
Akwuba was a perfect 5-5 at the charity stripe and tallied eight boards in addition to a block.
 
Junior guard Jalen Dalcourt contributed nine points, totaled five rebounds and recorded a steal.
 
With staunch defense out of the gate, Louisiana jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the opening seven minutes. Akwuba, Williams, Jr. and Jordan Brown shared the scoring early.
 
Leading 17-16 as the game neared the six-minute mark of the first half, Williams, Jr. sized up his defender and connected on a triple from the left wing. Freshman forward Joe Charles followed up the basket with a layup to push the advantage to six.
 
Troy knocked a point off in the final stretch of the first half as Louisiana led 29-24 at the break.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns opened the second half on a 17-5 run and took a commanding 46-29 lead with 13:32 remaining. Dalcourt made two threes in the push while Williams Jr. added a pair of baskets.
 
With Louisiana still holding to a 17-point lead with eight minutes remaining, a quick 6-0 run by the Trojans cut the score to 53-42 as the contest neared the five-minute mark.
 
Despite the late rally attempt, Troy would never get closer than eight as the Ragin’ Cajuns closed out the quarterfinal at the free-throw line.