by Joey Papania
LSUsports.net
SALT LAKE CITY — The first round of the NCAA Tournament should remove any lingering doubts that March Madness has indeed arrived. The LSU Tigers struggled on Thursday afternoon, but a clutch three-pointer by junior Brian Beshara with 17 seconds left gave the Tigers a 64-61 win over SE Missouri St. in Salt Lake City.
LSU (27-5) was lead by senior Jabari Smith who scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor, including 1-of-1 from three-point range, despite playing only 24 minutes due to early foul trouble. Torris Bright and Stromile Swift each scored 13 points for LSU, and Bright would play all but two minutes of the game.
Southeast Missouri State (24-7) would score first, giving the Indians their only lead of the first half. LSU would answer with a 10-0 run lead by Smith who scored the Tiger’s first six points of the game. However, two early fouls forced him to the bench, and he would not score another first half basket. SEMO’s next bucket came with 14:14 left to decrease the Tiger lead, 10-5. The Indians would not connect on another field goal until the 5:26 mark due to poor shooting and a solid defense by the Tigers.
Southeast Missouri State was held to just 16 percent (4 of 25) from the floor and only 25 percent (2 of 8) from behind the three-point line in the first half. But despite the poor shooting from the Indians, LSU could only manage a 24-19 halftime lead.
The second half did not begin well for the Tigers. Junior Lamont Roland threw the ball away on the opening possession of the second half, and an easy bucket by the Indians cut LSU’s lead to three. The Tigers regrouped and extended the lead to seven before a 9-0 run by the Indians gave them the lead for only the second time in the game, 30-28.
Both teams would battle for the lead for the better part of the second half. Roderick Johnsons 19 points and 11 rebounds powered the Indians. With just over two minutes left in the game, LSU trailed, 59-56. After a missed Tiger free throw, Roland created a steal for Swift whose power dunk brought the Tigers within one. On the following possession, SEMO extended its lead to three, 61-58, on a pair of free throws that would be the Indians’ final points.
After a timeout by head coach John Brady, Torris Bright buried a clutch three-pointer to tie the game with 1:14 left to play. The LSU defense stepped up once again and, with under a minute to play, LSU had the ball with the game tied, 61-61. After another LSU timeout, Bright drove and dished to Beshara with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. Beshara pump faked, reset, and hit the game-winning three-pointer with 17.8 seconds on the clock.
The win marks the first for the Tiger program in the NCAA Tournament since a 94-83 victory over BYU in 1992. Next up for LSU is the fif-th seeded Texas Longhorns who defeated Indiana St., 77-61, in the first game in Salt Lake City. Tip-off is set for 2:20 p.m. on Saturday.
Box Score:
SEMO
| FG | FT | reb | |||||
| min | m-a | m-a | o-t | a | pf | tp | |
| Johnson Branson Bunche Short Stokes Sanders Mccuthison Jones Totals |
37 26 32 31 40 9 14 11 200 |
7-13 1-7 2-9 4-9 2-12 1-2 2-4 1-2 20-58 |
5-6 1-2 2-2 4-4 2-3 0-0 0-1 0-0 14-18 |
8-11 3-7 1-3 0-1 0-4 0-2 0-1 1-1 13-30 |
1 5 2 0 3 0 0 0 11 |
3 2 3 1 0 1 3 2 15 |
19 3 6 14 8 3 6 2 61 |
Percentages: Fg-.345, Ft-.778.
3-Point Goals: 7-20, .350 (Johnson 0-2, Branson 0-3, Short 2-5, Stokes 2-5, Sanders 1-2, Mccuthison 2-3).
Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 2 (Stokes, Jones).
Turnovers: 9 (Short 3, Branson 2, Stokes 2, Johnson, Mccuthison).
Steals: 4 (Bunche 2, Johnson, Short).
LSU
| FG | FT | reb | |||||
| min | m-a | m-a | o-t | a | pf | tp | |
| Beshara Swift Smith Bright Roland Dupree Williams Temple Iii Bridgewater Totals |
33 31 24 38 30 18 11 10 5 200 |
3-9 6-9 7-11 4-6 3-6 2-5 0-2 0-2 0-1 25-51 |
1-2 1-3 2-3 2-2 1-2 0-0 0-1 1-2 0-0 8-15 |
2-5 3-5 1-4 1-4 0-3 0-4 0-1 0-3 0-1 7-30 |
3 0 2 4 1 0 2 0 0 12 |
2 3 3 2 4 2 1 0 0 17 |
9 13 17 13 7 4 0 1 0 64 |
Percentages: Fg-.490, Ft-.533.
3-Point Goals: 6-11, .545 (Beshara 2-2, Smith 1-1, Bright 3-4, Roland 0-1, Williams 0-1, Temple Iii 0-2).
Team rebounds: 6.
Blocked shots: 6 (Swift 6).
Turnovers: 13 (Roland 4, Beshara 2, Bright 2, Dupree, Smith, Swift, Temple Iii, Williams).
Steals: 4 (Roland 2, Beshara, Bright).
Technical fouls: None.
A: 12,691.
Officials: Dick Cartmell, Eugene Crawford, Dick Paparo.