NEW ORLEANS -- Arkansas State let a team make a threatening run early in the second half again Friday night. And again, the Red Wolves answered the charge with one of their own.
ASU responded to a run of nine consecutive points by Louisiana-Lafayette with a run of 14 in a row early in the second half, then survived a back-and-forth final five minutes for a 63-61 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in a Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinal at Lakefront Arena.
The victory came two days after Appalachian State made a run at ASU in a Sun Belt quarterfinal victory, with this one featuring 18 lead changes and sent ASU to the Sun Belt Tournament final for the second year in a row. The second-seeded Red Wolves will play No. 1 seed UALR in tonight's 7 p.m. final, and a victory would lead to the program's first NCAA Tournament berth.
It wouldn't have happened had it not responded to a Louisiana-Lafayette team trying to end what could be ASU's best season in program history with an array of slashing drives to the basket.
"We've been a little bit like that all year. You can look at the goods and the bad of that," ASU Coach Brian Boyer said of his team allowing runs. "Maybe the good of it at this point is we're used to maybe giving those things up, and we don't overreact to them."
The second-seeded Red Wolves (23-9) never did.
Neither team led by more than three points in a first half that needed tied 30-30. Then, sixth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette (19-12) scored the first nine points after halftime, the last six coming when either Keke Veal or Simone Fields scored inside to take a 39-30 lead less than three minutes after halftime as Boyer took a timeout.
"We knew we had to get a stop, and then after we got a stop we just had to get a score on offense," junior guard Aundrea Gamble said. "I just think it was a matter of coming together. It's OK, runs are going to happen, just pull together."
What happened next was what Boyer called one of the two biggest plays of the game. Khadija Brown-Haywood got open for a jumper that sparked a string of seven consecutive defensive stops in a 14-0 run as ASU took a 44-39 lead.
Later, Boyer called a timeout with 11 seconds left in the game and four seconds left on the shot clock and ASU leading 62-61. He called for Hanna Qedan, who hadn't yet scored, to get open in the corner and either shoot or drive to the basket.
Qedan drove the baseline and drew a foul. She made the first free throw, but missed the second and Louisiana-Lafayette's Jaylyn Gordon missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
It sealed a game in which ASU won despite Gamble not being much of a factor.
Gamble, who averages 19.1 points, was held to 8 points on 1 of 5 shooting and attempted only one shot in the second half while dealing with foul trouble. It was reminiscent of Gambles' previous games against Louisiana-Lafayette, when she was held to 4 points in a January loss and scored 14 but was 3 of 10 from the field in a victory last week.
While Gamble struggled, Jasmine Hunt and Brown-Haywood each had 15 points for the Red Wolves.
Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Garry Brodhead credited guards Kia Wildridge and Jodi Quinn for being able to limit Gamble.
"It seems like we're the only ones in the league who can stop Gamble," Brodhead said. "We've done it every time we've faced her since she's been at Arkansas State. We put a lot of focus on that in practice."
ASU had trouble stopping all of Louisiana-Lafayette's quick guards. Veal had 18 points before fouling out in the final minutes, Wilridge had 14 and Gordon had 12. Most of them came from the three driving through the lane. The Ragin' Cajuns had 42 points in the paint.
"Frustrating is the word," Boyer said. "I didn't think we were playing that poorly. I thought we were disciplined. I thought we handled the ball screens well. I thought we did the things that we needed to do."
ASU now finds itself in the same spot it was last year, when it lost to Western Kentucky 61-60 in last year's Sun Belt Tournament final. A victory over UALR tonight would produce ASU's first NCAA Tournament victory. Even with a loss, Boyer is hopeful his team can earn an at large berth.
Boyer is hoping last year's experience makes a difference tonight.
"The outcome was difficult last year, but I do think the familiarity of being in the game I think will help this team," Boyer said. "They've been through this."
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Sports on 03/14/2015