HONOLULU, Hawaii — The LSU Tigers inside game proved to be too much for the three-point shooting of Oakland University Friday afternoon as the Tigers advanced to the semifinal round of the Sports Tours International Hawaii Thanksgiving Classic with an 87-80 victory at the Neal Blaisdell Center Arena.
The win puts LSU in the 8:30 p.m. CST championship semifinal Saturday against the winner of Friday’s late contest between host Hawaii Pacific and Wyoming. The Saturday LSU game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on LSUsports.net.
For the Tigers it was their first win on a neutral site since the Tigers defeated Iowa in the second game of the 1996 Maui Invitational. It also upped LSU’s overall record in Hawaii to 18-8 in this its ninth appearance in the state.
But the visitors from Michigan, in just their second season as a Division I school, were determined to make a game of their chance against a big-time program. The Grizzlies launched 35 threes, connecting on 13 of them as they tried to hang around the Tigers for most of the first half.
In fact, the game turned LSU’s way for good late in a seesaw first-half in which the Tigers would build a lead and watch Oakland come right back at them. But the swing was felt in the final 2:30 of the first half as Lamont Roland scored all eight of his game points on a layup and two three-pointers which enabled LSU to go to the dressing room up, 38-30, at intermission.
“I knew the game was still up for grabs,” said LSU Coach John Brady, “because of the way they shoot the ball and the way they execute. I felt good. If we had defended better, we were helping them sometimes on dribble penetration and letting their three-point shooters get better looks than we would have liked. But I thought our size would play a factor in the game and it did. We were able to get the ball to Jabari (Smith) and offensive rebound the ball with Stromile (Swift). We were able to outrebound them by 21 rebounds and that was really the difference in the game.”
The LSU inside game of Smith, Swift and Brian Beshara really began to get LSU’s offense moving more in the second half as LSU’s ball movement was able to get the Tigers good looks for easy shots. LSU also upped its shooting percentage to 55 percent in the final 20 minutes (14-of-29) and continued to work hard on the boards, outrebounding Oakland for the game, 45-24, and 23-11 on the offensive end.
In three games, LSU has outrebounded its opponents, 146-86.
LSU was only challenged early in the final 20 minutes as Oakland cut the margin to four, 47-43, on a three-pointer by Dan Champagne, with 16:37 to play. But an eight-point run by Torris Bright bumped the margin back out to 12 again and LSU was in good shape, except for some sloppy play down the final three minutes of the contest that cut a 15-point advantage to the final seven-point difference.
“We made some careless turnovers late in the game,” said Brady. “Instead of having a seven point win, we should have had a 15-or-16 point win. But it’s good to win and learn, which is better than trying to learn and losing. We shown the pains of playing with a freshman point guard against a very well coached Oakland team. It reminds me of some teams I used to have (at
Samford). Anytime that three-pointer leaves their hands from about 21 feet, it certainly is scary. We could have had a nicer looking win, but none-the-less, winning the game is important and that is what we were able to do.”
Swift posted his second 20-plus point game of the young season for the 3-0 Tigers with 21 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Swift hit 10-of-12 from the floor, including six spectacular dunks.
“It’s our first game on the road and we just wanted to come out and play hard and play good defense like we did in the first two games,” said the sophomore from Shreveport. “I was running the floor as hard as possible to get back on offense and try to put myself in position to make a play.”
Bright added 17 points for the Tigers, with Beshara getting 16 and Jabari Smith 13, including 11 in the second half.
“Oakland could hit the open shot if we left them open,” said Beshara of the contest. “They were able to capitalize on mistakes we made defensively and that helped us to learn from that. It was good game for us. We had to play the full 40 minutes. We all know we can play better, but we got the win and we are going on to the next round.”
Brad Buddenborg of Oakland (0-3) equaled Stromile for game scoring honors with 21 points, with Dan Champagne getting 18, Mychal Covington 16 and Myke Thom 11. The Grizzlies will play the loser of the Hawaii Pacific-Wyoming matchup in the consolation round late Saturday night.
In all, LSU made 22 layups or dunks in the game, including 15 in the second half.
“We’re 3-0 and we are going to have to play a lot better probably against a good Wyoming team. I expect that is who we will play,” said Brady.
The final game of the tournament is set for Sunday.
BOX SCORE
LSU 87, Oakland 80
Oakland (80)
Dan Champagne 5-11 7-8 18; Sebastien Bellin 0-2 0-0 0; Mychal Covington 5-10 2-3 16; Mike Thom 3-6, 2-2, 11; Brad Buddenborg 7-13 4-4 21; Steve Houston 1-6 0-0 2; Steve Reynolds 3-3 2-2 9; Jason Rozycki 1-7 0-0 3; Jon Champagne 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-58 17-19 80.
LSU (87)
Stromile Swift 10-12 1-1 21; Jermaine Williams 1-5 5-6 8; Jabari Smith 5-9 3-5 13; Brian Beshara 6-14 2-2 16; Torris Bright 7-11 1-3 17; Ronald Dupree 2-5 0-0 4; Collis Temple 0-1 0-0 0; Lamont Roland 3-12 0-0 8; Brad Bridgewater 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 34-69 12-16 87.
Halftime score: LSU 38, Oakland 30. Three-Point FG: Oakland 13-35 (D. Champagne 1-4; Covington 4-7; Thom 3-6; Buddenborg 3-7; Houston 0-3; Reynolds 1-1; Rozycki 1-7); LSU 7-19 (Williams 1-2; Smith 0-1; Beshara 2-4; Bright 2-3; Dupree 0-1; Temple 0-1; Roland 2-7). Rebounds: Oakland 24 (Buddenborg 6); LSU 45 (Swift 8). Assists: Oakland 19 (Covington 7); LSU 16 (Williams 6). Blocks: Oakland 5 (D. Champagne 2); LSU 3 (three with 1); Steals: Oakland 3 (three with 1); LSU 11 (Bright 3). Technicals — none. A — 100.