BATON ROUGE (AP) — LSU appeared to be well on the way to its third straight victory Tuesday against Northwestern State.
Poor foul shooting down the stretch, however, enabled the Demons to cut into a comfortable Tigers lead. LSU finally made just
enough free throws in the final seconds to hold on for a 102-95 victory.
The Tigers held a 21-point lead at 72-51 eight minutes into the second half. From that point on, the Tigers missed half of
their 28 foul shots.
"If we execute at the foul line and make
free throws, this game would have been over a lot earlier," LSU coach
Johnny Jones
said. "We knock our free throws down and it's a 20-point
basketball game. At least at the end, the experienced guys were able
to finish it off at the foul line."
The Tigers watched Northwestern State cut its deficit to single digits in the final four minutes. A basket by James Hulbin
with 2:47 to play pulled the Demons to 88-82.
After Charles Carmouche made two foul shots, back-to-back baskets by DeQuan Hicks reduced LSU's lead to four points at 90-86
with 1:55 remaining. Northwestern State never made it a one-possession game.
A basket by Eddie Ludwig and a pair of free
throws by Anthony Hickey and Carmouche left the Tigers in front 96-89
with 44
seconds to play. The Demons trailed by four points again at 97-93
when Shamir Davis made two free throws with 17 seconds remaining.
LSU finally clinched the victory when Ludwig made two free throws and Carmouche sank 3 or 4 foul shots in the final 15 seconds.
"To score 102 points was exciting," Jones said. "To give up 95 points at home was really discouraging. You can't give up 90
something points. I told the guys that if you give up that number, it's not going to be a good night for you."
Coleman was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 22 points. Hickey was most instrumental in LSU coming away with the victory
as he accounted for a career-high 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals.
"We lost our focus when we were up," Hickey said. "We tried to hit a home run every time down. When we built our lead, everybody
was making shots. People were making the extra pass, and the ball was going our way."
Carmouche and Johnny O'Bryant contributed 19
and 13 points, respectively. O'Bryant was back in the starting lineup
after injuring
his calf in the season opener 11 days ago. Carmouche and Hickey
were a combined 19 of 25 at the foul line. Their teammates
made just 10 of 26 free throws.
"We have great shooters," Jones said. "It's
just a matter of them seeing the ball going through the net and being
more confident.
I am satisfied that we are able to sit here with a victory instead
of having a setback that the free throw line caused."
Hulbin was the leading scorer for the Demons (3-1) with a season-high 29 points. Hicks, Northwestern State's top scorer, came
off the bench and scored a season-high 28 points. Jalan West added 14 points for the Demons.
"We are a team that has to get after people
and play for 40 minutes," Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy said.
"We're
not built for a half-court team. We've got to utilize the people
we have and attack. Our two bigs (Hulbin and Hicks) scored
29 and 28 points. That was awesome."
After getting off to a slow start, LSU closed the first half on a 24-6 run to take a comfortable 14-point lead. The Tigers
missed eight of their first 10 field goal attempts as they fell behind Northwestern State in the early minutes.
LSU took its first lead at 24-23 on a 3-pointer by Coleman with 8:37 remaining in the half. Sparked by Hicks' six points,
the Demons moved ahead 32-28 with just under five minutes before halftime.
The Tigers then went on their run with
Hickey and Andre Stringer leading the way. Consecutive 3-pointers by
Hickey put LSU
in front for good at 36-33. Two 3-pointers by Stringer and a
couple of put back baskets by Andrew Del Piero gave the Tigers
a 46-35 advantage.
Hickey and Stringer combined for six more
points. Hickey made a basket and two foul shots, while Stringer made a
runner with
one second remaining to give LSU a 52-38 halftime lead. After
their slow shooting start, the Tigers ended up making 50 percent
(19-of- 38) of their first-half field goal attempts.
LSU didn't allow Northwestern State to reduce its deficit at the outset of the second half. With Malik Morgan making two field
goals, the Tigers pushed their lead to 19 points at 64-45 on a 3-pointer by Coleman five minutes into the second half.
The Demons, who trailed by as many as 21 points, made things interesting when they pulled within 11 points at 80-69 with 6:05
remaining. O'Bryant answered with a three-point play for LSU. Northwestern State cut the Tigers' lead to 11 points on two
more occasions in the next two minutes.
With LSU missing six consecutive foul shots, the Demons reduced its deficit to single digits at 86-77 on a basket by Hicks
with 3:58 remaining. Northwestern State would pull within four points, but get no closer in the final minutes.