BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team used a school-record tying 13 three pointers to take a commanding early lead and then held off the Northwestern State Demons, 91-54, on Sunday afternoon in the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (6-1) made 13 three pointers including nine in the first half to dishearten the cold-shooting Demons (2-5) in the opening minutes of the game. Collis Temple III had a double-double and led the Tigers with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Ronald Dupree scored 15 points and Torris Bright made 7-of-9 shots including five three pointers for 19 points.
Northwestern State was led by 6-11 D’or Fischer, who had 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Michael Byars-Dawson had 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
LSU finished the game shooting 51.5 percent from the field (34 of 66) including 13-of-23 three pointers (56.5 percent), while holding NSU to 32.3 percent (21 of 65) from the field. The Demons made only 4-of-25 three-point attempts for 16.0 percent.
The Demons were led by Jerrold McRae who had five points, while six other NSU players had between two and four points.
LSU made nine of its first 12 shots including 4-of-6 three pointers to jump out to 22-9 lead, while it held the Demons to around 30 percent from the field. Temple and Bright combined for 13 of the 22 points on 5-of-6 shooting with three treys.
The teams combined for only a pair of baskets between the 12:58 and 7:14 marks of the first half, as LSU cooled to 55 percent and Northwestern State stayed at 31.5.
However, LSU went on an 11-3 run to extend the lead to 37-16 with 4:14 to play in the half. Temple, Dupree and Hudson each hit wide open threes during the stretch.
Bright and Temple added another pair of threes and Dupree added a dunk to extend the lead to 45-21 going into the lockerroom.
LSU opened the second half just as it closed the first, with Bright hitting a three pointer. Brad Bridgewater then scored consecutive baskets on a post move and a dunk off a fast break. LSU extended the lead to 55-25 on Temple’s fourth three of the game and LSU’s 11th.
Both team again struggled from the field over the next three minutes, as neither team made a field goal. The teams traded baskets until the Tigers then earned their largest lead of the game on a free throw by Thomas Davis with 8:41 to play, 67-35. LSU went up 34 on a high flying alley-oop dunk from Charlie Thompson to Dupree.
NSU made a bit of a comeback as the LSU reserves struggled to handle and shoot the ball. The lead was cut from 34 to 21, 72-51, with 3:44 remaining in the game. Brady then re-entered Torris Bright who answered with his fifth three pointer.
Pete Bozek, the Tigers’ last body off the bench, tied the school record with LSU’s 13th three pointer late in the contest to put LSU up 85-51. The Tigers have made 13 treys four times in school history, most recently in 1995. Bozek finished with a career-high five points.
LSU returns to action on Tuesday night in the second half of a women’s/men’s basketball doubleheader with UL-Lafayette at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.
All fans are invited to chat live with LSU associate basketball coach Kermit Davis at 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon right here on LSUsports.net’s Tiger Focus. Simply click on the Tiger Focus link at the top of the LSUsports.net homepage, sign in with what you’d like your screen name to be and then submit your questions to coach Davis. The chat will last for 30 minutes.