LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Mylik Wilson scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead five Louisiana-Lafayette players in double figures and the Ragin' Cajuns topped Arkansas State 73-66 in the Sun Belt Conference tournament's first round on Saturday.

Wilson's double-double was the freshman' second. Jalen Johnson added 16 points for the eighth-seeded Ragin' Cajuns (14-18). Cedric Russell chipped in 12, Trajan Wesley scored 11 and Dou Gueye had 10. Johnson also had 10 rebounds.

Arkansas State came as close as 67-66 when Marquis Eaton scored with less than a minute to go, but Russell answered with a jumper in the paint for the Ragin' Cajuns, then made a free throw and — after a technical foul was called on the Arkansas State bench — made three more FTs, pushing the lead to seven.

Canberk Kus had 15 points and seven rebounds for the ninth-seeded Red Wolves (16-16). J.J. Matthews added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Jerry Johnson had 12 points.

Louisiana faces No. 5 seed Georgia Southern Monday in a second-round game.

___

For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25

___

Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com