Final Score: Louisiana 58, Florida Atlantic 57

Lafayette, LA (Sports Network) - Elfrid Payton finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and put in the game-winning layup with six seconds remaining as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns defeated the Florida Atlantic Owls, 58-57, in a Sun Belt Conference showdown at the Cajundome.

Shawn Long paced Louisiana (10-17, 6-10 Sun Belt) with 16 points and Alan- Michael Thompson added 13 points on 6-of-9 from the floor. Bryant Mbamalu had 10 points as the Ragin' Cajuns have now won two of their last three contests.

Greg Gantt scored a game-high 18 points for FAU (12-16, 7-10) but shot just 6- of-24 from the field. Pablo Bertone added 13 points while Jordan McCoy grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds, eight of which came at the offensive end.

Louisiana scored the first seven points of the game and led 31-22 at halftime after FAU shot just 6-of-27 from the field, including 0-of-6 from behind the arc.

FAU used a 9-2 run midway through the second half which McCoy capped with a layup to tie the score at 46-46. The Owls gained the lead and extended it to 55-50 on a Gantt 3-pointer before Payton took over.

Trailing by three points with 34 seconds remaining, Payton came up with one of his five steals and drew a foul. After knocking down both free throws, Steven Wronkoski missed the front end of a one-and-one for FAU. Payton then found the hoop to put Louisiana up by one and forced Gantt to cough it up with a second left to end the game.

02/16 23:20:47 ET

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