BATON ROUGE — Vincent Yarbrough scored 24 points including 16 in the first half as the Tennessee Volunteers broke LSU’s 11-game home winning streak and won its first Southeastern Conference road game, 61-58, on Wednesday night in the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU fell to 12-8, 2-5 in the SEC, while Tennessee improved to 10-10 overall and 3-4 in league play.
Other than Yarbrough’s performance, the only Vol in double figures was John Higgins with 10. Higgins’ three-pointer in the final minute gave Tennessee an insurmountable five-point lead.
The Tigers, who made only three field goals in the final 10 minutes of the game, were led by Ronald Dupree with 17, while Collis Temple III added 12 and Torris Bright had 11. LSU shot only 40.4 percent from the field (21 of 52), while Tennessee shot just better at 42.9 percent (21 of 49).
The Tigers opened the game by missing their first eight shots from the field and scored only two points on Bridgewater free throws to trail 5-2 at the 15:17 mark. Tennessee made only 2-of-6 shots to start the game including a three pointer by Yarbrough.
After missing the ninth-straight shot — a three-pointer by Dupree — Bright followed with a one-handed dunk to cut the lead to one, 5-4, and give LSU its first field goal at the 14:49 mark. Bright’s trey on the Tigers’ next possession tied the game at 7-7.
Thomas Davis came off the bench and immediately contributed on the offensive end, converting off a Dupree pass for his first points and then laying in an offensive rebound to cut the Vols lead to 12-11 lead.
Yarbrough scored eight of Tennessee’s first 15 points, as the Vols made 50 percent of their first 12 shots while LSU made 4-of-6 after the slow start.
Tennessee opened a six-point lead 18-12, before the Tigers stepped up the defensive pressure and began to take the ball to the rim on the offensive end rather than settling for long-range jump shots. Two baskets at the rim by Temple and Dupree cut the lead to two, 18-16, with 7:49 left in the half.
A pair of Yarbrough treys in the face of Dupree put the Vols up 26-21 despite LSU’s 16-9 rebounding advantage. The lead increased to seven before Antonio Hudson answered with a three from the left baseline. However, a three-point play by Brandon Crump moved the advantage to 31-24 with 3:53 to play in the half.
Trailing by seven, a solid recovery by Dupree led to a blocked shot and a fast-break alley-oop from Bright to Davis with less than two minutes to play.
The Tigers trailed 35-28 at the half.
Yarbrough’s second-chance three-point play gave him 19 points and his team a 38-30 lead with 16:45 remaining, however, LSU rolled off seven straight including a contested three pointer by Bright that was reviewed and confirmed via the giant scoreboards above the floor of the PMAC.
With starters Bright, Bridgewater and Jermaine Williams on the bench, Dupree’s fall-away three pointer from the right wing with 10:36 remaining in the half tied the game at 45-45 after the Tigers missed on several opportunities offensively.
In a defensive stalemate, the Tigers were able to stay close to the Vols as the teams combined for 13 points over the next seven-plus minutes.
Trailing 53-50 with 2:39 left to play, Bridgewater made a pair of free throws that were countered by Yarbrough’s layup on the other end. After two misses at the line by Bright, the Tigers forced a turnover by Jenis Grindstaff who then fouled out trying to recover the ball.
When the Tigers converted only 1-of-2 on the free throw line, Jon Higgins then hit a long three pointer to take a 58-53 lead with 34.2 seconds remaining.
With the ball and one timeout, Bright found Temple cutting to the basket for an easy layup with 24.3 seconds remaining. After a Tennessee timeout, LSU was forced to foul reserve point guard Thaydeus Holden after missing the steal on the in-bound play. Holden missed 1 of 2, however, Hudson slid three feet across a damp spot on the floor to give the ball back with 11.6 seconds left.
Hudson’s trey with less than four seconds left cut the lead to two, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Vols.