BATON ROUGE — Led by veterans Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple III, the LSU men’s basketball team shook off a summer’s worth of rust and then the Global Sports All-Stars, 78-71, in the 2001-02 exhibition debut on Monday evening in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The All-Stars whittled a 16-point first-half deficit to three points with 5:02 remaining in the game, 64-61, before Dupree and Temple led LSU down the stretch.
Dupree led LSU with a double-double, 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Temple had 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. The two combined to shoot 14-of-30 from the field, including 3-of-9 from behind the three-point arch.
JueMichael Young added seven points, while freshman Antonio Hudson and junior college transfer Thomas Davis each had six.
Global Sports was led by Anthony Evans who scored 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds. Jeff Greer had 13 points, while Billy Keys and Mark Young each had 10.
Coming off a season when he led the league in scoring and was second in rebounding, Dupree showed a few of his many athletic abilities in the first minutes of the contest. The Tigers opened up a 7-2 lead just over three minutes into the game on a three-pointer from the left wing by Dupree. A reverse layup by the All-Southeastern Conference power forward then gave LSU a 9-4 lead headed into the first timeout.
Returning from a redshirt season after a torn ACL, forward Brad Bridgewater score his first points of the season on a post-up move just inside the paint to give LSU a 15-9 lead with 14:23 remaining in the first half.
Less than two minutes later, junior Temple hit his first three-point attempt from the left wing to give him nine early points and an 18-11 lead. After reserve forward Jason Wilson scored on a layup for a 20-11 lead.
Thomas Davis, a junior college transfer from Alexandria, La., became the first newcomer to see action in the exhibition. The 6-8 forward added a bucket and a rebound in his first four minutes of play. A few minutes later, freshman Antonio Hudson scored on a fast-break pull-up jumper from the left wing, his first points as a Tiger. LSU led 28-18 with 7:42 left in the half, while shooting 52.2 percent from the field (12-of-23).
JueMichael Young, a sophomore seeing his first action after sitting out his freshman season as a partial qualifier, sank his first three-pointer from the left wing to give LSU a 35-21 lead with 6:01 left in the period. Two minutes later, he added another trey from the same spot to give LSU a 40-26 lead.
Freshman point guard Xavier Whipple was the next newcomer to take the floor at the PMAC. In place of Torris Bright, who started the game 0-4 from the field (all three-pointers) Whipple registered two assists in his first two minutes as LSU led 42-27 at the 3:07 mark of the first half. The Tigers were 18-of-31 from the field (58.1 percent) with a 19-11 rebounding advantage and a 5-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio. Whipple scored his first points with a pair of free throws with 1:41 to play in the half.
With four newcomers and Jason Wilson on the court, the Tigers only lost four points from their 16-point lead at the 3:20 mark until the end of the half.
To open the second half, LSU took 33 seconds off the shot clock before sophomore point guard Charlie Thompson hit Bridgewater in the post for a turnaround jumper and a 47-35 lead. However, Global Sports went on a 7-1 run over the next four minutes to cut the lead to 48-42 with 15:40 left to play.
Guard Jermaine Williams scored his first two points of the season on a pull-up jumper in the lane to break scoring drought and increase the lead to eight, 50-42.
After 20 minutes of action, Bright also added his first points of the season on a pair of free throws with 12:05 to play to give LSU a 52-44 lead. Three minutes later, Temple stormed through the lane for a dunk and his 14th point to put the Tigers up by 14, 58-44.
Once again, Global Sports battled back to within four, 61-57, at the 6:43 mark on a steal and dunk by Jeff Greer. On the other end of the court, Hudson completed a three-point play to end the run and put the Tigers ahead 64-57.
Leading only by three, Dupree benefited from an overplay by a Global Sports defender to hit a wide open three and put the Tigers ahead 67-61. Temple and Dupree followed added LSU’s next three more baskets to put LSU up by 10, 73-63, with 1:40 remaining.
The Tigers continue exhibition play on Monday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. when the Sports Tours comes to town. Sports Tours is a group of foreign athletes from the Czech-Select squad.