STARKVILLE, Miss. — The LSU Tigers fell just short of an unbelievable 12-point comeback in the final minute of play Saturday afternoon before falling to 22nd-ranked Mississippi State, 67-64, in a regionally televised game at the Humphrey Coliseum.
The loss leaves LSU, losers of three straight, at 12-5 overall and 1-4 in the Southeastern Conference going into Tuesday’s 8 p.m. game at the Maravich Assembly Center with nationally ranked Florida. The game will be nationally cablecast on ESPN.
The Tigers were down, 65-53, with 53 seconds to play after Derrick Zimmerman hit two free throws. Jaime Lloreda came down and made a lay up with 42 seconds left as LSU took its final time out. LSU had only committed four team fouls, so LSU had two fouls to give before putting State at the line.
Antonio Hudson fouled on the inbounds with 40 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds, Mario Austin turned the ball over to LSU and Darrel Mitchell hit a three-pointer from the corner to cut it to 65-58 with 34 seconds to play. Mitchell then committed two consecutive fouls to get State to the line in the one and one bonus where Austin missed the first free throw attempt with 26 seconds to play.
This time Torris Bright came down and took a three-pointer and made it to cut the game to 65-61 with 23 seconds left. Again, State in bounded and Hudson fouled Winsome Frazier who promptly went to the line and missed another bonus toss. The Tigers rebounded and came down again, this time getting a top of the circle jumper by Ronald Dupree for another three to cut Mississippi State’s lead to one, 65-64, with 11 seconds to play.
Officials would later during a State timeout go to the video monitor to check on whether Dupree’s feet were behind the line and they ruled the three-pointer was valid.
On the ensuing inbounds, Bright committed a foul, sending Derrick Zimmerman to the line and he made two free throws to give Mississippi State a 67-64 lead with seven seconds to play.
LSU came down looking for the tying three-pointer, but an off-balance 35-footer by Torris Bright banged off the backboard. Mississippi State rebounded and Zimmerman was fouled with 1.6 seconds to play. Zimmerman missed both free throws and Dupree’s desperation 65-footer was short of the mark, ending the valiant comeback attempt and allowing the crowd of 10,046 (11th largest in Coliseum history) to finally breath easy.
Dupree led LSU with 15 points, while Antonio Hudson had consecutive double figure scoring games for the first time this season with 12 points. Torris Bright and Darrel Mitchell had 10 each. Mississippi State (12-4, 2-3) was led by Michael Ignerski with 15 points, while Timmy Bowers added 14, Frazier 11 and Zimmerman 10.
The Tigers shot 41.9 percent from the field for the game (26-of-62), but after going just 3-of-29 the last two games, LSU was 8-of-19 for the game (42.1 percent). LSU went to the line just nine times, making just four.
Mississippi State shot 47.3 percent for the game and out rebounded LSU, 40-31.
The first seven minutes set the tone of what would be a very physical game as neither team could really gain an advantage in a game tied three times early on. But Mississippi State would sprint away to a 19-11 lead with 7:30 to go in the opening half and while LSU would cut the margin to three in the remaining stages of the half, the Bulldogs went to the dressing room with a 38-28 halftime advantage.
LSU cut the lead twice in the second half to seven and then eight, but the Tigers faced a double-digit deficit most of the final 20 minutes until the last-minute near miraculous finish.