BATON ROUGE — Coming off a 13-point home victory over then-No. 7 Mississippi State, the 23rd-ranked LSU men’s basketball team showed no signs of let down. The Tigers dismantled NCAA Independent Centenary College, 112-65, on Wednesday night at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers (12-2, 1-1 SEC) scored 112 points for the first time since the 1999-2000 season opener against Grambling State. The last time an LSU men’s team scored more than 113 points was Dec. 6, 1994, against Tory State.
LSU also ecplised the Pete Maravich Assembly Center record for field goal percentage, making 45-of-64 shots for 70.3 percent. The PMAC was opened in 1971. The school record for single-game field goal percentage is 71.4 percent (50 of 70) set at Clemson in 1969. The previous PMAC shooting mark was 68.4 percent by Tulane in the National Invitation Tournament in 1982.
Centenary saw its two-game winning streak snapped, as the Gents fell to 5-10 overall.
Coming off the bench to hit 5-of-8 shots, freshman guard Tony Gipson scored a career-high 14 points to lead the Tigers. Starting point guard Torris Bright scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and added four rebounds and three assists in only 10 minutes. Guards Collis Temple III and Antonio Hudson each had 12 points, while Ronald Dupree was the last of five Tigers in double figures with 10.
Darrel Mitchell added nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, while starting forward Jaime Lloreda scored eight points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds in 18 minutes of play. LSU outrebounded Centenary, 39-16, and made 9-of-15 from three-point range.
Centenary was led by junior guard Andrew Wisniewski who had 25 points, just above his season average of 20.2 per game.
After missing its first two shots from the field, LSU made 11 of the next 12 to take a 28-11 lead over the Gents with 10:27 to play in the first half. Bright and Temple each scored seven points in the run, while Dupree added five and Mitchell hit a three-pointer.
As the Tigers cooled, the Gents crept within 11, 30-11, on a layup by Wisniewski with 8:13 left in the half. However, LSU used a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to expand the lead to 40-21 at the 4:21 mark.
Centenary ended the run with a jumper by Michael Gale, but the Tigers answered with a 19-0 run to end the half. LSU held its largest first-half lead at the half, 59-23, as the Tigers made 70.6 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes.
The 59 first-half was the highest total in an opening 20 minutes by an LSU team since putting up 70 against George Mason on Dec. 3, 1994.
LSU scored the first 14 points of the second half before Wisniewski hit a layup with 15:53 to play in the game.
As LSU head coach John Brady began to empty his bench with more than 14 minutes to play — bringing Gipson, Xavier Whipple, Charlie Thompson, Tim Bush and Thomas Davis — the Gents went on a 14-6 to keep the LSU advantage at 84-43.
All 15 Tigers dressed out eventually saw action.
The Tigers return to the court on Saturday at 1 p.m. when they return to conference play against Ole Miss on Jefferson Pilot Sports TV.