BATON ROUGE- LSU defeated Nicholls St. 91-74 Thursday night in non-conference action. The Tigers became the sixth team in LSU basketball history to start a season 10-0.
However, the Colonels of Nicholls St. proved they were not intimidated by the Tigers. Nicholls has faced many quality foes early in the season including Depaul, Tulane and Northwestern. That experience paid off for the Colonels tonight.
The contest was tampered by meticulous officiating. There were 54 fouls called in the game. Nicholls thrived on drawing charges from aggressive LSU shooters.
Coach John Brady was disappointed with his team’s free throw shooting tonight.
“When you dont make free throws it upsets the rhythm of the offense and the whole team,” said Brady. “We have to do better.”
The Tigers were 20 of 36 that gave them a 55.6 percent shooting average from the line.
The Tigers opened the game in style when Brian Beshara sunk a three pointer. But the game battled back and forth with LSU leading 10-9 at the 15:07 mark. Then LSU forced turnovers by pressing NSU. The colonels struggled to bring the ball up the court. At one point LSU exploded for a 10-0 run marked by two steals and dunks courtesy of Ronald Dupree. Dupree had one of his better performances of the season with nine points, three rebounds and three steals.
Nicholls stayed in the game by picking up the pace against the Tigers. The Colonels brought the ball quickly down the court to start every possession in an attempt to catch the Tigers off guard. It was not very successful, but the strategy did give the Colonels four points underneath, scored by Arthur Haralson who was left uncovered. LSU responded by switching to a high-pressure zone defense. They had been playing strictly man-to-man to begin the contest.
The Colonels prevented LSU from pulling away by clawing their way back from being down 11 points. Haralson and Terence McCutcheon combined for nine points and the LSU lead was cut down to three points at 25-22 with 8:05 left in the first half.
The inside game of LSU took over late in the half. Jabari Smith and Stromile Swift dominated inside as they combined for 11 points and LSU went to the lockeroom with a 42-30 lead.
In the second half, LSU began to wear down the Colonels. The inside forces of Smith and Swift combined with good outside shooting by Torris Bright allowed the Tigers put away any comeback hopes the Colonels had.
Bright continued to grow into the point guard position. He had 20 points, five assist and only two turnovers.
Nicholls did make LSU work hard for the victory. The Colonels Arthur Haralson continued to excel. He finished the game with 25 points.
LSU failed to capitalize on many inside scoring opportunities. The Tigers were able to feed the ball to the post well, but missed shots and missed free throws when they were fouled.
Nicholls also struggled inside. Lorenzo Wright attempted to post up, but his shots were denied twice by blocks from Smith and Dupree. Jermaine Williams did as hes done all year for the Tigers and played consistently. He came off the bench and scored eight points. His biggest contribution was the composer he brought into the game. With 7:34 left in the game, Williams penetrated the lane, scored a basket and drew a foul. He completed the three-point play by making the free throw giving LSU a commanding 66-40 lead.
Nicholls true freshmen guard Beau OQuin played very well for the Colonels. He drilled three late three pointers keeping the score respectable for NSU. OQuin finished the game with an impressive 18 points.
Swift finished the game with 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks. His counterpart inside Jabari Smith had 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks.