by Joey Papania
LSUsports.net
BATON ROUGE — Behind a 23-point effort from Brian Beshara, the LSU Tiger basketball team defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks for only the second time in SEC play, 96-75.
In front of a crowd of 10,851, LSU (15-3, 3-3) arguably played their best game of the season.
As a team the Tigers shot 50 percent from the field, 75 percent from three-point range and held the Razorbacks (11-8, 3-3) to just over 36 percent shooting.
LSU opened the game with a 22-8 run during which junior Brian Beshara scored nine straight points. Beshara would finish the half shooting 5-of-6 from the floor, 3-of-3 from behind the arc, and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
But Arkansas would not go down without a fight. The Razorbacks, despite being down by as many as 14 points, would erase the Tigers lead with the help of senior Chris Walker who shot 4-of-5 from three-point land and added 15 points to the Arkansas first half.
With 7:20 left, the Razorbacks tied the game 31-31. But with the help of the bench, LSU withstood the comeback and built a 45-37 halftime lead. Freshman Ronald Dupree provided a spark off the bench pulling down seven first half rebounds after Stromile Swift left the game with an ankle injury.
“We started off real well,” said Dupree. “We came out and got the crowd right into it from the beginning. The last couple of games we started off slow. So now since we jumped on them real quick, I really think that was a key to our success tonight.”
The second half was all LSU as the Tigers opened up with a 14-to-0 run. The Tiger defense shut down the Razorbacks not allowing a second half bucket until the 14:14 mark. Walker was the only Arkansas starter to score double digits finishing the game with 20 points.
Swifts ankle injury was minor, he would return to the game to score 16 points in 23 minutes of action. The sophomore was an impressive 8-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Despite committing 20 turnovers, the Tigers were able to handle the Arkansas pressure for the majority of the game. LSU assisted 21 of the 30 field goals in the game, and freshman Torris Bright finished with eight of those assists.
“I believe it (the press) was harder at practice,” said Swift. “I thought that was why we were able to come out and do so well in the game tonight.”
Beshara continued his hot hand finishing the game shooting 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the arc. Dupree would end the game with his first career double double. The freshman shot 4-of-6 from the floor in the second half scoring 14 points and pulling down 16 rebounds. Five Tigers scored in double figures and LSU won the rebound battle by a 52-37 margin.
“It was a good win by our team. And it is different than how LSU has played against Arkansas in the league — to see the Arkansas team hold the ball so LSU wont score 100 points,” said head coach John Brady. “And that is exactly what they did.”
Next up for the Tigers, the No.5 Arizona Wildcats come to the PMAC for a 2 p.m. tip-off on Saturday before a two game road trip at Mississippi St. and Alabama.