BATON ROUGE — Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple III scored 21 points apiece and LSU made 31-of-38 free throws, as the Tigers came back from 13 points down with 15 minutes to play to hand the Arkansas Razorbacks their first Southeastern Conference loss, 75-69, on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU won its first league game of the 2002 season and improved to 11-4 overall and 1-1 in SEC play, while Arkansas lost for the first time in five games and fell to 10-5 and 2-1 in conference play.
Dupree made 6-of-12 shots and added nine free throws, while Temple made 9-of-10 free throws and 5-of-7 field goals including two three-pointers. Freshman Antonio Hudson came off the bench with a broken nose to score 11 huge second-half points on 4-of-5 shooting including three threes. Torris Bright added 10 points which included 5-of-5 from the line.
Jermaine Williams also contributed eight points on 6-of-6 free throw shooting.
LSU shot only 45.2 percent from the field (19 of 42) but made 6-of-13 from long range.
Arkansas, which played 13 players in the game, was led by Brandon Dean who had 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting including 5-of-9 from three-point range and five assists. Teddy Gipson added 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 3-of-3 treys. The Razorbacks made 8-of-10 free throws and 13-of-31 three-pointers.
With its big men struggling to defend the quick Razorbacks, LSU used a “smaller” lineup to outscore the Hogs, 44-29, in the second half. The Tigers also committed only three second-half turnovers.
Against the up-start Razorbacks, it was the Tigers who scored the first five points of the game with back-to-back field goals by Dupree and Bright in the first minute. Three missed free throws by Dupree over the next minute kept Arkansas from falling behind, as Dupree continued to make it to the rim but couldn’t convert on the line. The Tigers led 8-4 with 18:00 to play.
Brandon Dean’s pull-up three pointer off a missed basket by Bright gave the Razorbacks their first lead, 9-8, at the 17-minute mark, and then another pushed the Arkansas lead to 12-10 at the first media timeout with 15:40 to go in the half.
A free throw and another three by T.J. Cleveland gave Arkansas a six-point lead, 16-10, before Jermaine Williams’ layup with 13:50 ended the run. However, five straight points upped the lead to 21-12 with just under 12 minutes left in the half.
Temple poured in two free throws and a three pointer to score the game’s next five points, but Charles Tatum answered with Arkansas’ fifth three of the game in 11 tries for a 24-17 lead.
Dupree’s layup with 10 minutes to play in the half cut the lead to five, but LSU missed three opportunities to narrow it even more. After an media timeout at the 7:20 mark, Arkansas extended the lead to seven once again on a layup by Alonzo Lane.
Trailing 28-23, LSU traded four free throws to a pair of Arkansas threes by Pargo and Gipson to fall behind 34-27 at the final media timeout of the first half.
Arkansas added a second-chance basket to increase the lead to nine before Temple’s acrobatic put-back of Antonio Hudson’s missed jumper.
Arkansas led 40-31 at the half.
Neither team took advantage of the others’ mistakes in the first four minutes of the second half, as the lead stayed at 10, 47-37.
Hudson matched two threes by Arkansas with two of his own to keep pace with the hot-shooting Hogs, 53-43, with 13:54 to play. LSU cut the lead to nine on a pair of free throws by Dupree and finally converted with a Dupree jumper from 15 feet.
However, Arkansas again answered with a knifing jumper in the lane by Dean to lead 56-47.
The Tigers mounted another attack when Hudson recovered the ball out of bounds and then hit a leaning jumper to cut the lead to seven, 56-49. He missed the opportunity for a three-point play with 9:50 to play. LSU again missed two free throws, but cut the lead to five when Temple put back the second.
Dean picked up his fourth foul of the game with 8:19 to play, sending Temple to the free throw line for two free throws. Arkansas led 56-53.
Bright’s leaning left-handed layup with 7:30 to play cut the lead to one, 56-55, before Dupree picked up his fourth foul.
The Tigers took their first lead since the first minute of the game, 57-56, on a pair of free throws by Williams with 6:43 to play. But, J.T. Sullinger answered with a trey from the left corner to take it back.
Hudson, a true freshman, again came up big with a three, but Dean responded on the other end with one of his own. Dupree’s pull-up jumper the next time down the court rattled home with 4:45 to play to tie the game at 62-62 before Williams’ pair of free throws gave LSU a two-point lead.
Pargo’s three from the right corner gave the lead back to the Hogs, 65-64, before Dean fouled out on LSU’s next possession with 2:44 to play. Temple made both ensuing free throws to take the lead.
Bright then made 1-of-2 free throws and Arkansas turned the ball over to give the Tigers the ball with 1:35 to play. With time running off the clock, Temple took a pass from Hudson and drained a three from the top of the key to take a five-point lead, 70-65.
Hudson fouled Pargo, a 57-percent free throw shooter, made both before LSU was forced to call a timeout on the in-bounds play with 59.5 seconds to play.
Temple hit a running layup with 43 seconds remaining for a five-point lead, and then stopped the Hogs on the other end of the court. Two Williams’ free throws pushed the lead to seven, 74-67, before Pargo’s uncontested layup with 18 seconds left.
Temple then made 1-of-2 from the line and LSU won 75-69.