LSU Alexandria captures third RRAC Tournament title in four years - Mar 5, 2018
LSU Alexandria won its second straight title and the third in four years with a championship game victory over Langston at the 2018 Raising Cane's RRAC Men's Basketball Tournament on Saturday. The Generals marched through with an 82-75 victory at LeTourneau University. LSUA earned an automatic berth to the NAIA national tournament, while Langston will have to wait to see if they receive an at-large selection next week. LSU Shreveport received the RRAC's other automatic berth as the conference's regular season champion. LSUA and Langston were familiar foes in tournament championship games after squaring off in the last three RRAC title contests. The Lions came away with an overtime victory in 2016, and LSUA has won the last two. The Generals took command in the first half and built a 37-33 halftime gap, but Langston stayed close until tying the game for the eighth time at 58-58 with 9:13 remaining. Marques Mondy connected on a jumper, swiped the ball from LSUA and scored again for back-to-back baskets to even the game. Moments later, William Claiborne (6'11''-F/C) put LSUA ahead to stay with a pair of free throws then quickly stretched the lead to five on a drive by Brandon Moss (6'9''-F). The Lions cut the lead to two twice more, the last time coming at the 4:21 mark on a pair of free throws from Diamante Langston (6'2''-G-95). Jordin Williams (6'3''-G) and Shannon James (5'11''-PG), Jr., popped three-pointers for LSUA within the next minute and the Generals eventually built their biggest lead of the game at 80-70 with 17 seconds to play. Williams, a senior and the school's all-time leading scorer, accumulated 34 points, while Moss contributed 20. Moss had a double-double with 13 rebounds. Langston was led by Dante Bailey with 16 points. LSUA is now 25-7 on the season, while Langston is 20-11.
RRAC Tournament Final: LSU Alexandria - Langston 82-75 RRAC Tournament Semifinals: LSU Alexandria - Our Lady of the Lake 91-78 Langston - LSU Shreveport 79-75
Courtesy of Red River Athletic Conference
All-RRAC Awards 2018 - Mar 5, 2018
All-RRAC 1st Team 2018
Bailey
Batts
Clark
Green
Hamilton
All-Tournament MVP: Jordin Williams (6'3''-G) of LSU-Alexandria Player of the Year: Stevie Clark (5'11''-PG-94) of LSU-Shreveport Defensive Player of the Year: Jamal Ray (6'4''-G-95) of LSU-Shreveport Newcomer of the Year: Stevie Clark (5'11''-PG-94) of LSU-Shreveport Coach of the Year: Kyle Blankenship of LSU-Shreveport