BATON ROUGE — LSU was able to hold off a late rally by the Global All-Stars and captured the Tigers’ first exhibition win, 72-69, Monday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Despite turning over the ball 15 times and shooting just over 38 percent form the field, the Tigers saw four starter score in double figures and were led by sophomore guard Collis Temple, III who led all scorers with 20 points. Temple also registered the contest’s only double-double adding his game-high 11 boards.
Despite losing Brad Bridgewater for the season with a torn ACL in last Tuesday’s practice and being out-matched in the frontcourt, the Tigers out-rebounded the All-Stars 46-40.
“To be honest with you, I don’t have many complaints about tonight’s performance,” head coach John Brady said. “There’s nothing that I could be critical about in the way that we competed in the game. We out-rebounded the team in the game. We had 25 turnovers in the game without Torris Bright, which was pretty good.”
LSU was the first to get on the board when Ronald Dupree knocked down a pair of free-throws. Dupree finished the game with eight points and 11 rebounds, just two points shy of the second LSU double-double of the night.
Global tied the game on the ensuing possession before LSU’s Brian Beshara knocked down his first of a pair of three-pointers. The senior Tiger played the entire first half and finished with 12 points.
Global’s Jimmy Hunter answered Beshara’s three and provided eight of the All-Stars first 10 points. But Hunter did not score after the 16:32 mark in the first half and finished the night with only 12.
Neither team was able to put together a substantial first half lead. The largest margin came with 2:22 left in the first period after a three-pointer by Global’s James Cotton.
The Tigers chipped away at the lead and cut their deficit to four after a jumper by Temple. LSU would head to the locker room trailing 36-30.
LSU opened the second period with a 6-0 run to tie the game 36-36. Both teams battled for the lead until junior Jermaine Williams hit a jumper with 14:41 left to give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish. Williams finished the night with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Tigers slowly increased their lead and would go ahead by 10 points, 65-46, after a pair of free-throws by off-guard Lamont Roland. The senior finished with 17 points, four assists and a game-high four steals.
The All-Stars would stage a late rally. Former Alabama guard, Schea Cotton, knocked down a three with 41 seconds remaining, but LSU was able to hold on, 72-69.
Next up for the Tigers is the final exhibition next Monday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. against a team from Angola. Tickets for the game and all home games are on sale at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office and on the Internet at www.lsusports.net.
QUOTES FROM LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY
“To be honest with you, I don’t have that many complaints about tonight’s performance. There’s nothing that I could be critical about in the way that we competed in the game. We out rebounded the team in the game. We had 15 turnovers in the game without Torris Bright, which was pretty good.”
“When I look at our stats, I see that Ronald Dupree had 5 of our 15 turnovers, and shot 1-12 from the field. So, basically we had two players that didn’t play in tonight’s game. We were still able to win the game. I think we missed a lot of layups as a team, and I know that we missed 19 freethrows.”
“We had the game under control and we just didn’t finish it that well, because we couldn’t make any freethrows or layups in the final two minutes. I don’t have any real complaints about our team and how hard it tried to play.”
“Brian Beshara played hard the entire time tonight. Collis Temple had a nice game and Lamont Roland got it going in the second half. I think that Jermaine Williams was our most improved player in Italy, and he definitely showed it tonight. When we get Torris back in the rotation, Dupree will play better, because he is an athlete, and tonight he just missed about four or five layups. When he did get to the goal he couldn’t get fouled.”
“For our team to win that game after missing 15 freethrows and shooting poorly in the first half, I thought that we had some nice looks at the basket. In the second half, we finally got into the rhythm of our offense and we played a lot better. We have to defend and rebound, and tonight we defended pretty well.”