BATON ROUGE — Collis Temple III scored a season-high 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead the LSU Tigers over the Towson Tigers of the Colonial Athletic Association, 83-46, on Wednesday night in the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU finished November 5-1 overall, while Towson fell to 1-3 in 2001. The LSU Tigers won their 31st straight non-conference home game dating back to a Dec. 1, 1997, loss to Lamar.
Point guard Torris Bright continued to play well for the Tigers, scoring 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting with seven assists and four rebounds. Brad Bridewater also played well in the post, pouring in 12 on 6-of-11 field goals, while Ronald Dupree had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes of play.
LSU shot a season-best 55.4 percent from the field (36 of 65), while holding Towson to only 37.0 (20-of-54) shooting. Neither team shot well from the free throw line, as the two combined to shoot 9-of-22.
Sam Sutton led the Towson Tigers with 10 points and Calvin Dodson added nine.
With LSU leading the game 6-2 after nearly six minutes of play and 4-of-17 combined shooting, the teams made six straight field goal attempts including two by Dupree leading into the second media timeout at 11:22. After a 1-of-9 start, Towson made four in a row to take a 12-10 lead.
Bright’s trey off a dribble-penetration pass by Jermaine Williams gave LSU a 13-12 lead as the teams continued to trade hard-fought baskets on each end of the court. Williams then drove coast-to-coast for a layup and a 17-14 lead with 9:50 remaining in the half.
A three-point play on a give-and-go by Bright from Jason Wilson pushed the lead to 20-14 at the eight-minute mark and the next media timeout.
With LSU’s eighth field goal in 12 attempts, Dupree scored his ninth point of the game to give LSU a 25-14 lead with under six minutes to play in the first half. Less than a minute later, Thomas Davis benefited from another missed shot turned LSU fast break, as Bright found him driving the left side of the lane with a scoop pass and that led to a dunk and a 27-14 lead.
LSU led 36-23 at the half on 50-percent shooting from the field, while holding Towson to only 8-of-24 (33.3 percent).
To open the second half, LSU went on an 15-2 run capped by a Temple three pointer from the right wing, a driving layup by Dupree off an inbound play and a flying dunk by Bridgewater on a fast break. LSU led 51-25 with 14:43 to play in the game.
After Towson cut the lead under 20, Temple powered toward the basket and made an acrobatic around-the-world layup and was fouled for a three-point play and a 56-34 lead with 11:43 on the clock.
LSU again pushed the ball up the court and pushed the lead over 30 for the first time on a buzzer-beating jumper by Antonio Hudson with less than seven minutes to play in the game.
Temple, the only Tiger starter in the game in the final eight minutes, provided the bulk of the scoring down the stretch before being subed out with 2:24 to play.