BATON ROUGE — After a surreal first half in which LSU shot just 20 percent and scored just 10 points, the Tiger men’s basketball team doubled the score on the Ole Miss Rebels in the second half to win going away, 58-45, Wednesday at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The win makes the Tigers 8-7 in the SEC, stopping a four game losing streak and giving the Tigers a victory in its first game since forward Jaime Lloreda officially left the team. LSU is now 18-8 on the season. Ole Miss falls for a fifth straight game to 4-11 in the SEC and 12-14 overall.
Darrel Mitchell and Brandon Bass led LSU with 14 points while Tack Minor scored 11 points off the bench. Aaron Harper had 20 points to lead Ole Miss while Todd Abernethy scored 10. Justin Reed was held to six points.
Defense was the order of the first half as neither team lit things up in the early going as the Tigers were 0-7 from the three-point arc and 0-4 at the free throw line after making all 17 attempts in the Kentucky game this past Sunday.
Harper hit eight of Ole Miss’ first 13 points as the rebels opened a 13-2 advantage with 14:26 to go in the first half and the Tigers tried to fight back but could only score enough to keep pace, going to the dressing room having played good defense, but down 21-10.
“I think this win just speaks a lot about the character of the LSU team,” LSU Coach John Brady said. “I believe in these guys and I am proud of what I just saw, very proud of it. You know at halftime I told our guys look, you are only down 11 despite scoring only 10 points, and no matter what the score would have been it did not matter. It could have been 11-0 but it is only 11 points. When the game is said and done it is not how many points you score, it is whether you win or lose the game. It does not matter because the score could be 2-0 and if the Tigers win, then that is what matters.”
The Rebels continued to get the key buckets, building a 16-point lead twice at 31-15 with 14:25 to play and 33-17 with 13:52 left. From there the game began to change.
The Tigers cut the game to 14, 35-21, at 11:56 and Bass proceeded to make two free throws, Minor had a lay up, Bass a dunk and Mitchell a bucket around an Ole Miss bucket to cut the margin to 37-29 with 9:27 to play.
Following an Ole Miss timeout, Mitchell made two free throw, Minor and Bass made lay up again around a Rebel basket and the margin was just four, 39-35 with 6:25 to play and the small crowd of 8,593 paid was on their feet helping to will the young group of Tigers on.
The Rebels hit a trey to go back up 42-35, but Minor answered with his own trey, Mitchell made two free throws and a lay up with 4:53 to go to tie it at 42-42 and it was Mitchell who put the Tigers up for the first time, 45-42, with 4:01 to play.
Abernethy hit a trey to make it 45-45 as the game hit the 3:10 mark and that would be the last points Ole Miss would score as LSU close the game on a 13-0 run that featured freshman Ross Neltner, who scored his first LSU points just a week ago, hit a trey for the go-ahead points and a later bucket and Regis Koundjia hit a bucket and a free throw.
In the second half, LSU shot 68 percent from the field (17-of-25), 3-of-4 from the three-point arc and 11-19 from the free throw line, outscoring Ole Miss, 48-24.
“(Rod Barnes’) teams are tough and they play hard,” Brady said. “They are a physical group of guys. Our four freshmen and a sophomore when the game was on the line matched them toughness for toughness. What I have seen the last two games out of this team has really impressed me. They are going to get better and better and what we did today made a statement and what we are going to do the rest of the year is going to be positive I believe. The crowd was great in the second half, just outstanding. The fans felt good tonight leaving that arena with the way our team played.”
Coach John Brady started LSU senior Charlie Thompson, who was honored before the game at Senior Night ceremonies. It was Thompson’s second start of his 90-game career.
The Tigers close out the regular season on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Auburn. An LSU win or an Alabama loss will give the Tigers the second place bye in the SEC Tournament.