Chase Hallam scored a career-high 20 points Saturday night as Denver defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 63-47 and wrapped up the No. 6 seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
Denver, Lafayette and Florida Atlantic all finished with 10-8 conference records, but Denver won the tiebreaker by virtue of its head-to-head record vs. those schools (1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic and 1-1 vs. Lafayette).
Brian Stafford added 14 points for the Pioneers (17-12, 10-8 Sun Belt) and Nate Rohnert had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Denver held the Ragin' Cajuns to a season-low 47 points and their leading scorer, Tyren Johnson, at bay most of the game. Johnson led Louisiana-Lafayette (13-16, 10-8) with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
Denver will face the Sun Belt's No. 11 seed (either FIU or New Orleans) in the first round of the conference tournament March 6. Lafayette gets the No. 7 or 8 seed, depending on the outcomes of other games Saturday night.
