NCHORAGE-  The Minutemen outlasted a pesky University of Southwest Louisiana attack led by the Raging Cajuns Casey Green, in an 80-64 victory for the University of Massachusetts in the second game of the Carr's Great Alaska Shootout Wednesday night.

Green nailed back to back three pointers early in the first half to keep the Cajuns alive and then with 27 seconds left in the half repeated to show his shooting prowess by knocking down two more three point field goals to send the game into the locker room at half-time 37-37.

In the second half, the Minutemen opened a six point lead in the first five minutes on a 9-3 run.  The UMASS scoring was provided by four Minutemen players in double figures, led by Junior Guard Charlton Clarke with 20 points.

Green provide more fireworks in the second half hitting another clutch three point basket late in the third quarter to tie the game at 52.  Green finished with 25 points, shooting 5 for 8 from behind the arc and receiving player of the game honors.

USL's undoing was partly due to Brett Smiths three turnovers on traveling sviolations in the second half, combined with UMASS's 14 rebounds and 17 points from Tyrone Weeks.

USL Head Coach Jesse Evans said his team was wore down in the final half.

"I kept whipping them, and pushing them, and they just had nothing left," he said.

UMASS Head Coach Bruiser Flint said his team wasn't focused and didn't come ready to play.

"I told my team we talked a good game," he said.  "But they need to start performing."

UMASS Junior Center Lari Ketner said he wasn't happy with his play.

"I took a couple shots under preasure," he said.

UMASS will move on to face the Boilermakers of Purdue University Friday night as the Raging Canjuns will play the loser of Game 1, the University of Alabama Trailblazers.

ust when the Massachusetts Minutemen needed it most, the Minutemen brought out the full Monty.

Monty Mack, a sophomore guard from Boston, scored nine of his 18 points in the final six minutes to send UMass past Southwestern Louisiana 80-64 in Wednesday's first round of the Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena.

And did the Minutemen ever need Monty's scoring surge. The Ragin Cajuns of Lafayette, La., who won the 1981 tournament by stunning a field that included a Georgetown team led by a freshman named Patrick Ewing, almost provided another upset to be talked about for years.

Southwestern Louisiana had the game tied at 52-52 with eight minutes left - and leaving the Minutemen a bit nervous about the possibility of advancing into Friday's semifinal with Purdue.

"They surprised us a lot," said Mack. "They had a lot of guards who can shoot."

And ones not afraid to put the ball up. The Ragin Cajuns sank 7 of 19 three-pointers - five of them made by senior guard Casey Green. Tyrone Foster, often Green's backcourt mate, hit the three-pointer that tied the game at 52-52.

"Southwestern Louisiana should have won the game," said UMass head coach Bruiser Flint. "We were awful - I mean, we were awful."

But Mack turned the game the Minutemen's way. He hit a driving layup, a three-pointer and two jumpers over the next five minutes. After his last jumper, Mack's team held a comfortable 70-62 lead with 1:21 left.

'I just got some good, open shots," said Mack. "I just took what was given me."

This was a matchup of two different styles. This year's version of the Minutemen likes to pound the ball inside, a bruising team befitting a team coached by Bruiser Flint.

The Ragin Cajuns, meanwhile, pressed full-court, took the first open shot and picked up the pace whenever they could.

"We like to slow the pace down," said Mack. "We want to get the ball inside."

The two different styles of play were in full display during the first half: The Minutemen passed the ball inside to 6-10 Lari Ketner and 6-7 Tyrone Weeks.

"They were just beating up on my little guys," said Southwestern Louisiana coach Jesse Evans. "I'm glad I didn't have any eligibility or else I'd have to go out there and play some."

The Ragin Cajuns, meanwhile, took the first open shot - and those opportunities were, for the most part, from the outside. Green was especially effective for Southwestern Louisiana. The senior sank 4 of 5 three-pointers in the first half, finishing with a game-high 25 points for the night.

Green and Foster, in fact, gave the Cajuns their first lead of the game late in the second quarter on three-pointers, 35-34 with just over two minutes left.

Brett Smith added a tip-in for the Cajuns, while Ketner sank a jumper and Mike Babul added a free throw for UMass to tie the game 37-37 at the half.

For the Minutemen, Ketner and Weeks combined for 17 points in the first half, although point guard Charlton Clarke gave the team a lift with 10 first-half points.

Now, all the Minutement are hoping to repeat their Shootout title of 1991 by upsetting Purdue, the sixth-ranked team in the nation.

"We talked a good game, and now we've got to go out and start performing," said Flint.

NCHORAGE, ALASKA - Usually, a win is a win no matter how ugly the winning team performed. That was not the case for the University of Massachusetts, especially for head coach Bruiser Flint.

The Minutemen struggled for most of the game, but were finally able to pull away in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter to defeat Southwestern Louisiana, 80-64, Wednesday in the first round of the Carrs Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena.

"Southwestern should have won the game," Flint said afterward. "We were awful. I told the guys that they should be ashamed of the win. The guys did not come out ready to go. We played better in the loss (to Fresno on Saturday) than (Wednesday) in the win."

Rules for the Shootout were different from normal college rules. Teams played four, 10-minute quarters instead of two, 20-minute halves and there was a 40-second shot clock instead of a 35-second shot clock.

  UMass was able to put this one away late in the fourth quarter behind sophomore Monty Mack and solid free throw shooting. Mack, who sat out last season for academic reasons, scored nine of his 18 points in the final six minutes to propel UMass to victory.

  "I just got some good, open shots," Mack said. "I just took what was given to me."

  The game was tied, 52-52, with 8:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, but over the next seven minutes, Mack hit a driving lay-up, a three-pointer and two jumpers to give UMass a comfortable 70-62 lead with 1:21 remaining.

  "They surprised us a lot," Mack said. They had a lot of guards who can shoot."

  One was player- of-the-game Casey Green. The 6-3 senior made five of eight shots from beyond the three-point arc, all coming at crucial junctures, to keep the Ragin' Cajuns in the ballgame. Tyrone Foster hit two more to help their cause, but down the stretch Southwestern was forced to foul and the Minutemen connected from the charity stripe. Junior guard Charlton Clarke was the big man from the line for UMass, sinking six of six shots while Tyrone Weeks went two for two. Mack closed out the scoring with a lay-up with nine seconds remaining.

  "They wore us down," said Cajun coach Jessie Evans. "With less than 10 minutes to go we had nothing left. I thought the keys were our inability to knock down free throws and they were able to make the big plays down the stretch. I kept whipping them, but we were a step slower."

  The Cajuns only made 15 of 27 shots (.556) from the free throw line, while UMass made 23 of 28 (.821).

  "We shot fouls well for the whole game," Flint said. "It's a good sign because we usually don't shoot good foul shots. We made them in the end and guys stepped up. (Charlton) is one of the better foul shooters. "

  Other than that aspect of the game, Flint was not happy.

  "It was an awful performance," he said. "I'm embarrassed that my team went out and played that way. "

  The game was supposed to be a matchup of UMass' height against the Cajuns' quickness. It started out well for the Minutemen as they continually tried to get the ball down low to 6-11 junior center Lari Ketner (four shots, three points to open the game) and the 6-7 Weeks. UMass jumped out to a 8-1 lead by pounding the ball inside, getting either easy shots or fouled. They then blended a couple of three pointers from Mack and Clarke and looked good with a 15-5 lead (their biggest of the half) with 4:24 to go in the first quarter. The smaller Cajuns couldn't keep the Minutemen off the boards early and weren't getting good looks on the offensive end.

  "They were just beating up on my little guys," Evans said. "I'm glad I didn't have any eligibility left or else I'd have to go out there and play some."

  Things began to change, however, when Green stepped out behind the 3-point arc to nail back-to-back three point shots. That little spurt quickly cut into the 10-point lead and then, when Foster connected from downtown, the Cajuns had crawled all the way back to take a 35-34 advantage before the half ended in a 37-37 tie.

  "Guys didn't want to play defense. Bottom line," Flint said. "We talked about switching things and guys didn't switch and they didn't talk. I told them, if we can jump on them early and kick them when they're down, it won't be a game. If we make them feel like they're in the game then they're going to be in the game. That's what we did for the first three quarters. "

  The Cajuns, who won the 1981 Shootout title, were looking for their second big upset in Alaska. In 1981 they upset Georgetown which was led by current New York Knick Patrick Ewing.

  Green paced all scorers with 25 points while Foster added 17 and Brett Smith tossed in 11 against Ketner.

  "I was pleased with our effort," Evans said. "I watched them against Fresno and they simply owned the boards. They're also physical and I hope we don't play a team as physical as UMass in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament."

  UMass outrebounded the Cajuns only 30-28. Weeks, for the second straight game, was huge with 14 boards, but the amazing stat was that Ketner only had four boards. The 6-8 Smith did a good job keeping Ketner off the boards even though he only had four rebounds himself.

  Overall it was Mack's second strong outing in his first season. He played 34 minutes and had five steals and three assists, but it was his three turnovers that Flint noticed most.

  "Mack likes to thread the needle," Flint said. "If he hits people they say, 'ooh', but if they go out of bounds they say, 'ah.' "

  Clarke led all UMass scorers with 20 points and dished off a team-high six assists. Weeks and Ketner chipped in with 17 apiece, but more will be needed out of the entire UMass squad if they are to beat Purdue Friday at 9:30 p.m., eastern time.

MASSACHUSETTS (80)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Babul           16   2-2   1-2   0-1  0  2    5
Weeks           36   5-8   7-7  3-14  3  3   17
Ketner          32  8-14   1-3   0-4  1  4   17
Clarke          35   4-7 11-12   0-1  6  4   20
Mack            34  7-12   2-2   0-1  3  1   18
Depina           5   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Cruz             5   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Smith           22   0-1   1-2   0-3  4  2    1
Kirkland         6   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  0    0
Basit            9   1-2   0-0   2-3  0  4    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-47 23-28  6-29 19 22   80
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Percentages: FG-.574, FT-.821. 3-Point Goals:
3-7, .429 (Clarke 1-3, Mack 2-4). Team rebounds:
1. Blocked shots: 7 (Ketner 5, Babul, Smith).
Turnovers: 21 (Ketner 5, Basit 3, Clarke 3, Smith
3, Weeks 3, Babul 2, Depina, Mack). Steals: 9
(Mack 4, Babul 2, Weeks 2, Clarke).

SW LOUISIANA (64)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Bennett         28   1-1   1-2   0-5  0  4    3
Snowden         19   1-4   0-0   1-3  1  3    2
Smith           32  4-10  3-10   3-4  0  2   11
Foster          29  6-12   3-4   1-3  1  2   17
Patrick         19   0-2   1-2   0-0  3  5    1
Howell          13   1-5   0-1   0-0  2  2    2
Regis            4   0-0   1-2   0-0  0  0    1
Lee              3   0-0   0-0   0-1  1  1    0
Green           23  7-11   6-6   1-2  1  2   25
Whiting          7   0-2   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
Warren           8   1-1   0-0   0-1  1  1    2
Funderburk      15   0-2   0-0   1-4  2  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-50 15-27  7-24 12 25   64
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.420, FT-.556. 3-Point Goals:
7-19, .368 (Snowden 0-3, Foster 2-6, Howell 0-2,
Green 5-8). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
None. Turnovers: 22 (Smith 6, Foster 4, Snowden
4, Green 3, Bennett, Howell, Lee, Patrick,
Warren). Steals: 10 (Foster 3, Green 3, Howell 2,
Lee, Snowden).
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Massachusetts      37   43  -   80
Sw Louisiana       37   27  -   64
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: Bill Gracey,
Eddie Jackson, Kennedy.