NEW ORLEANS — An inspired Tulane Green Wave squad put the 10th-ranked LSU men’s basketball team to the test Saturday afternoon at the New Orleans Arena and the Tigers rallied from an 11-point first half deficit to win, 74-67.
The 4-1 Tigers, who will face nationally-ranked Texas A&M Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in a possible battle of top 10 teams, could be facing the Aggies shorthanded after senior forward Darnell Lazare had to leave the game in the first half after colliding with a Tulane player while going for a loose ball on a tipped inbounds pass. Lazare was helped off the court with what Shawn Eddy called an ankle sprain and his status was listed as day-to-day.
LSU trailed by 11 points, 38-27, at the 3:08 mark of the second half after a layup by David Gomez. LSU took five points of that off by halftime and trailed 42-36.
Tulane made the most of their chances in the first 20 minutes hitting 53 percent from the floor, 17-of-32 and 4-of-8 from three-point range with just three turnovers while LSU was turning the ball over eight times, hitting 11-of-27 from the field (40.7 percent) and just 1-of-6 from the arc. Tulane helped its cause by getting 12 points off the LSU turnovers, but the Tigers were staying in contact by making 13-of-17 free throws.
The Tigers never were able to make a real dent into the game in the first six minutes as Gomez scored with 13:29 to play to give the Wave a six-point advance, 49-43. But with Tack Minor in at point guard with LSU going smaller with Garrett Temple, Tasmin Mitchell, Dameon Mason and Glen Davis pretty much the rest of the way, the lineup was beginning to have a difference in the game.
LSU made what would prove to be the winning run of 16 consecutive points over the next 3:30 to move to a 58-49 advantage. The run started at the 13:05 mark with a three-pointer by Mason, followed by a Wave turnover that led to a Davis layin. After a missed three-pointer by Tulane, LSU missed a shot but got three offensive rebounds before David got another bucket to give LSU the lead for good at 50-49.
Davis blocked a Tulane shot and after a media timeout, LSU got an offensive rebound of his own miss by Tasmin Mitchell and that new possession led to a Temple three to make the advantage 53-49. After Mitchell blocked a Gomez layup, Mitchell would score on the other end and get one free throw on the foul to make it 56-49 and the run concluded on a thunderous dunk by Mason after he stole the ball from Kevin Sims to make it 58-49 and forced Tulane Coach Dave Dickerson to call timeout.
LSU would get its biggest lead of the game at 11 points, 69-58, with 4:29 to play on a Mason bucket and free throw and that would prove to be the winning points for the Tigers as the Wave, falling to 4-3, was able to get the game down to four points twice in the final minutes but no closer as the Tigers were able to keep the Green Wave at bay in the final minutes.
“Our team talked it over at halftime and decided we were going to win the game by defending and trying to rebound. And if you look at the stats in the second half, that’s exactly what happened,” LSU Coach John Brady said. “We didn’t shoot it as well as we would have liked. Are we where we need to be? No. We’re still a work in progress.”
In the second half, LSU shot about the same as the first half (14-of-35, 40 percent), but Tulane hit 10-of-23 (43.5 percent), but 1-of-5 from the arc and 4-of-8 at the free throw line in the final 20 minutes.
Davis led LSU with 20 points and 13 rebounds, his 31st career double-double, while Temple hit for 18 points with six assists and no turnovers, a block and two steals as he played all 40 minutes. Mason had 12 points and Mitchell 11. Gomez led Tulane with 19 points and five blocked shots, while Sims and Chris Moore had 12 each.
LSU outrebounded Tulane, 43-29, with a 16-3 advantage on the offensive boards.
“We crashed the boards really, really hard,” said Davis. “We knew what we had to do. We knew what we wanted to do. We didn’t get rattled to the point where we couldn’t bounce back. We kept our composure. That’s the point. I don’t care what you won the game by. You won the game.”
Brady said Gomez’s strong showing might cause the Tigers to look at some other defensive options.
“I guess we miss that shot-blocker (Tyrus Thomas) we had last year a lot,” Brady said. “We may have to change defenses. We haven’t played a minute of zone. We may have to go to double-teaming the post to give our post guys some help because we’re not as athletic around the goal.”
“Our defense was good enough to stop the initial shot, but in order to win this game we had to get more rebounds than 29,” Tulane coach Dave Dickerson said. “The disparity on the rebounding end of it was the telltale of the game.”
Tuesday’s game with Texas A&M will feature the Team Acrodunk from Houston who appeared earlier this year on the NBC show, “America’s Got Talent.” Also at the game fans will get a chance to meet some members of the LSU Football team as part of the “Meet the Tigers” series, presented by Peoples Health. The football players will be on the main concourse signing autographs during halftime.