BATON ROUGE — The 21st-ranked LSU Tigers won their seventh consecutive game Monday, beating the University of New Orleans Privateers 69-57.
LSU (9-1) had a season low 23 points at half time and trailed the Privateers 27-23.
LSU responded in the second half by scoring the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 27 and took the lead for good with 17:23 left in the game on a jumper by senior forward Ronald Dupree. Dupree scored six points of an 11-0 run by the Tigers that put the game out of reach.
“UNO has got a good team, I told our team at halftime they were in for a dog fight,” LSU Head Coach John Brady said.
Continuing defensive pressure by the Tigers forced the Privateers into 20 turnovers.
“Turnovers were a problem in the second half,” said UNO Head Coach Monte Towe. “LSU is big, strong, and quick; they take great pride in playing good defense. We just had too many unforced errors.”
Dupree was the leading scorer for the Tigers as he had 18 points on seven of eleven shooting. He also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Jaime Lloreda added 14 points and eight rebounds. Antonio Hudson also scored 12 points. UNO (7-4) lost their second consecutive game and their fourth in five games. The Privateers were led by senior forward Hector Romero’s 15 points and Victor Brown’s 12 points.
The Tigers won for the 44th consecutive time in a non-conference regular season home game at the Assembly Center, a streak dating back to 1997, and for the 42nd time against Louisiana competition, a streak that originated in 1988.
LSU opens Southeastern Conference play on Sunday at Athens, Ga., against the University of Georgia in a regionally televised game on CBS, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CST. The Tigers return home on Jan. 8 for a non-conference game with the Houston Cougars.