BATON ROUGE — In front of 12,696 at the Maravich Assembly Center, Ball State hit 14 three-pointers to end the LSU men’s basketball team’s run in the National Invitation Tournament in the second-round, 75-65, on Tuesday night.
The Tigers, picked last in the Southeastern Conference before the season, completed the season with a 19-15 record. Seniors Jermaine Williams, Jason Wilson and Pete Bozek played their final games in the PMAC.
Ball State (23-11), the champion of the Mid-American Conference’s West Division, advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NIT and will face the winner of UNLV and South Carolina.
The Tigers led Ball State, 63-62, with less than five minutes to play, and were outscored 13-2 down the stretch.
Torris Bright scored a career-high 25 points on a 7-of-15 shooting, while Ronald Dupree was the only other Tiger in double figures with 16 points. Bright completed the double-double with 10 rebounds. Brad Bridgewater scored eight points, and Antonio Hudson added seven. The Tigers shot 41.1 percent from the field (23 of 56), including only 4-of-17 from three-point range.
It was the 10-trey difference in the game that told the story, as Ball State was 14 of 26 from long range (53.8 percent) while only 11 of 31 inside the arc. Chris Williams led the Cardinals with 25 points, while Theron Smith hit his average with 19 along with Patrick Jackson.
The Tigers opened a 6-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game before Ball State — which missed its first seven shots — nailed back-to-back treys to knot the game at 6 with 15:17 remaining in the half. LSU hit 3-of-4 field goals to start the game, but committed three turnovers with a chance to break the game open early.
Ball State’s third and fourth-consecutive three-pointers gave the Cardinals their first leads of the game, 12-10.
A free throw and a steal-turned-dunk by Dupree start the see-saw going again, as LSU led 13-12. But, Ball State’s Chris Williams answered with the Cardinals’ fifth three pointer on the next possession to again turn the tides. A pair of free throws gave Ball State its largest lead, 17-13, with 11:52 to play.
Bright and Jackson traded threes before Jason Wilson hit 1-of-2 free throws and Bridgewater added his third dunk to cut the Cardinals’ lead to one, 20-19, with 8:30 on the clock.
Three-pointers No. 7 and 8 fell from Billy Lynch and Chris Williams, as Ball State again went up five, 26-21, at the third media timeout with 6:38 remaining in the first half.
Out of the timeout, JueMichael Young scored a six-foot jumper and Bright picked up a loose ball for a layup to bring LSU within one, 26-25. The Tigers then earned two free throws in transition to re-take the lead, 27-26, as Bright was fouled on a fast break with 4:59 remaining.
A three-point play by Jones was then matched by a Bright trey from 22 feet to tie the game at 30-30. Dupree made 1-of-2 from the line to put the scoreboard in LSU’s favor once again.
Chris Williams’ fourth three of the first half gave Ball State the lead once again, 35-33, with under two minutes to play, and Smith tipped in a second-chance basket to go up four.
A pair of free throws by Dupree on Smith’s third foul of the game cut the lead to two, 37-35, at halftime.
To begin the second half, Bright tied the game at 39-39 on a third-chance layup, but Jackson answered with three-pointer No. 10 and a layup off a steal for a five-point lead.
LSU responded with a 6-0 run before Smith nailed a 19-foot field goal to keep the Cardinals ahead, 46-45. The game continued to switch hands, as Ball State added No. 11 before Hudson scored in transition to keep LSU within two, 49-47.
Dupree tied the game at 49-49 with a pair of free throws at the 12:28 mark and Wilson put back a Jermaine Williams’ miss to put LSU ahead 51-49.
Two threes by Bright gave LSU its biggest lead to that point, 59-54, before Chris Williams took the ball to the rim for a three-point play and Jackson pulled up from seven feet with one second on the shot clock to tie the game at 59-59 with 7:17 to play.
LSU came out of the media timeout and ran an alley-oop to Dupree to take the lead, but Williams scored Ball State’s 12th three-pointer for a 62-61 lead. Bright’s pair of free throws were matched by the 13th trey from Jackson to put the Cardinals up 65-63 with 4:01 to play.
After Ball State extended the lead to four, LSU head coach John Brady called a 30-second timeout with 2:09 remaining and managed to get a pair of Jermaine Williams free throws out of it.
Ball State was then forced to call a 30-second timeout in their backcourt with 1:50 left, as LSU went into a full-court press on the made free throw. Leading by two, Ball State missed 1-of-2 free throws with 1:25 left to play to go up three.
Three-pointer No. 14 came as a dagger, as Jackson hit a raining shot from right in front of the Ball State’s bench to put the Cardinals up 71-65.