BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers faced a much tougher battle in the championship round of the LSU Louisiana Classic but the Tigers were finally able to put Louisiana-Lafayette away, 83-69, to capture the tournament title and start the season 2-0.
LSU’s Brandon Bass was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and he couldn’t have been more valuable in LSU capturing its 11th in-season regular season tournament title. Bass made 11-of-12 field goal attempts and eight-of-eight at the free throw line to tally 30 points with seven rebounds.
Joining Bass on the all-tournament team from LSU were Antonio Hudson who finished with 22 points (equaling the fifth highest scoring game of his career) and Darrel Mitchell who had 12 points, four assists and seven steals. Hudson was a perfect 6-of-6 at the three-point arc, becoming the fourth LSU player to be perfect from the arc with at least five makes.
Bass became the first player since Jaime Lloreda in the second game of last year to score 30 points in a game, topping his previous career high of 22 against UAB on Dec. 27, 2003.
The first half was an at times intense battle for control of the tempo as LSU built a 9-2 lead only to have the Cajuns (1-1) come back and knot the game at 14-14 with 13:57 to go in the half. Louisiana Lafayette would take the lead five times in the final 13 minutes, the last time at 30-29 with 4:26 to play on a jumper by Cajun junior Tiras Wade.
But LSU got an unusual five-point play on the next trip down the court to take the lead for good as Ross Neltner pulled up outside the arc at the top of the key and hit a three-pointer. At the same time, the down low official was calling a foul away from the ball against Spencer Ford, guarding Bass. Bass made two free throws and the five-point play turned the Tigers from a one-point deficit to a four-point lead that the Tigers would move up to five, 42-37, at the intermission.
“Offensively, I thought we were pretty good throughout the game,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “The first half we shot 46 (percent) and the second half we shot 55. We got some buckets in transition. We had a few too many turnovers, maybe, offensively than we normally do. You have to credit (Louisiana-Lafayette’s) quickness that caused us to have 21. I think overall we did what we wanted to do from a transition standpoint. So, I was pleased with the overall approach to what we did offensively.”
LSU got its first double digit lead of the game at the 17:12 mark at 50-40 before the Cajuns made what would be their final run of the night, taking a 56-48 LSU advantage and cutting it to 56-55 on a Wade trey with 12:14 to play. But the Tigers came right back, scoring the next nine to up the lead to 65-55 with nine minutes to play.
From the 56-55 point of the game, the Cajuns would be outscored 27-14 as LSU would open as much as a 21-point lead in the final four minutes.
“In the second half, I thought defensively we hit a stretch where we didn’t turn it over,” said Brady. “We were able to score the ball, which allowed us to set our defense. We got on the boards better and didn’t give them second opportunities. So, (Louisiana Lafayette) struggled a little bit offensively.”
Wade led Louisiana Lafayette with 22 points as Orien Green added 18 points with five assists and five steals. Both were a part of the all-tournament team chosen by the media with Brian Hamilton adding 11 points.
The other member of the all-tournament team was Paul Millsaps, the sophomore from Louisiana Tech, who had identical games of 25 points and 14 rebounds in both games. Sunday, the Bulldogs defeated Tulane, 69-66, in the consolation game.
The Tigers return to action Wednesday night in the Maravich Center when UNO comes to town for a 7 p.m. game. Tickets are $12 for middle level seats and $10 for upper level seats and are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.