Williasm, Tigers Downs Ole Miss
BATON ROUGE — On Wednesday’s Senior Night at the Maravich Assembly Center, senior Jermaine Williams scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Ronald Dupree had 17 second-half points to lift the Tigers past the Ole Miss Rebels, 59-56.
LSU improved to 15-13 overall and 5-10 in Southeastern Conference play, while Ole Miss fell to 19-9 and 8-7 in the SEC. The game was Senior Night for Williams, forward Jason Wilson and walk-on Pete Bozek.
The Tigers went on an 8-0 run late in the second half to take a 52-46 lead with 1:36 to play and made four-straight free throws down the stretch to hold off the Rebels.
Dupree finished with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Torris Bright added 10 and Antonio Hudson had nine. The Tigers finished 23-of-42 shooting for 54.8 percent, and overcame 12 first-half turnovers to only commit four in the second 20 minutes.
Ole Miss was led by David Sanders, who scored 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Justin Reed added 17 and Jason Harrison had 11. Ole Miss shot only 19-of-50 from the field (38 percent) and had 18 turnovers.
Williams, a senior from Baton Rouge, scored LSU’s first four points from the field as the Tigers led 5-2 with 15:57 remaining in a defensively oriented start to the game.
Ole Miss began the game only 1-of-11 from the field, but LSU was unable to capitalize as it committed six turnovers in the first nine minutes of play and made only three field goals of its own. At the 10:56 mark, LSU led 9-6.
The Rebels went on a 6-0 run capped by a three-point play by Reed with 9:12 to play in the half. The Tigers ended the run with a trey by Bright from the top of the key to tie the game at 12-12.
Williams’ pull-up jumper over 5-5 Jason Harrison cut a four-point Ole Miss lead to 18-16 before Sanders connected on his third trey in four attempts. As LSU struggled to get off a shot — 12 turnovers and 12 attempts from the field — the lead increased to 25-18 with 3:03 remaining in the half.
Down nine with under a minute to play, Bright connected with Hudson for a double-pump layup. LSU trailed 27-20 at the break.
Powered by Dupree, the Tigers cut the lead to three points, 29-26, in the first three minutes of the second half. However, the Tigers returned to their first-half form of missing free throws, turning the ball over and not converting under pressure to fall behind eight on a three-pointer by Harper, 40-32, with 11:21 to play.
LSU went on a 11-4 run over the next four minutes to get within one, 44-43, on a running jumper by Charlie Thompson with under eight minutes to play. Dupree tied the game with a free throw.
Dupree again tied the game at 46-46 with a second-chance basket, and Williams’ run-away dunk from Bright gave LSU its first lead since the 11:14 mark of the first half (9-6). The Tigers led 48-46 with 2:59 to play with possession.
With Reed defending him with four fouls, Williams drove to the lane for an easy layup and a four-point lead, 50-46. The teams traded turnovers before Thompson found Dupree cutting to the goal for an easy dunk.
Reed missed a pair of free throws, but Harrison picked up the loose ball and laid it in to cut the lead to 52-48. However, LSU again scored in transition to up the advantage to six, 54-48, as Ole Miss called timeout with 55.5 seconds to play.
Sanders completed a three-point play coming out of the timeout, but Dupree again answered with a left-handed alley-oop dunk from Hudson on the break away.
The see-saw continued when Ole Miss made yet another basket to bring the Rebels within three, 56-53, with 22.8 seconds remaining.
Thompson made two free throws before Harrison air-balled a long three-point attempt. Williams’ pair of free throws locked the win.
LSU completes the regular season against Auburn on the road on Saturday at 1 p.m.