CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Glen Davis had 22 points and 13 rebounds and No. 12 LSU fought off a late Oregon State rally for a 60-53 victory Sunday here at Gill Coliseum.
The 6-2 Tigers will travel to Monday to Seattle to prepare for a meeting at nationally-ranked Seattle Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. CST.
The double-double for Davis was his fourth straight for LSU and the fourth straight game that he has scored over 20 points. The last time that happened was when Jaime Lloreda scored 20 plus in the last game of the 2004 season and the first three games of the 2005 season. Garrett Temple added 17 points for the Tigers and Tasmin Mitchell 11.
LSU led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but the Beavers closed the gap to 50-42 on Jack McGillis’ 3-pointer with 6:02 left. Sasa Cuic’s 3-pointer got Oregon State to 52-47.
After Davis made a free throw, Josh Tarver had a layup and a foul shot to narrow it to 53-50. Kyle Jeffers could have put Oregon State closer but he missed a pair of free throws with 2:06 left. Tack Minor hit a crucial 3-pointer and Davis had a hard-fought layup as LSU pulled away for the win.
Tarver led the Beavers (6-5) with 13 points. Marcel Jones had 12.
Both teams got off to slow starts. Davis didn’t score through the first 10 minutes of the game, and was demonstratively disappointed when a chance he had under the basket bounced off his foot and out of bounds. But once Davis did hit one, it sparked a 12-3 run for the Tigers that put them ahead 17-11. Davis would go on to score 13 in the first half.
Jeffers’ turnaround jumper tied it at 20 for the Beavers, but Temple’s layup and Davis’ 3-pointer gave LSU a 25-20 lead at the break.
Oregon State made just eight of 29 shots from the floor (27.6 percent) in the first half, and 32.8 percent for the game. But the Beavers made 11-of-21 threes including 8-of-13 in the second half. In that final 20 minutes, the Beavers were 3-of-16 from inside the arc.
LSU shot 40.4 percent for the game (21-of-52) and 7-of-22 from the arc. LSU hit 11-of-19 free throws, the second time this season LSU was below 60 percent at the line and out rebounded the Beavers, 42-38.
“This is one of my feelings and I have several,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “This is the one I am feeling now that I will share. Anytime you go on the road and win, it’s a good thing. You know as well as I know that you will have to play better in some situations to beat some of these other teams we are going to play. We did enough to win the game tonight, and that’s a good thing, but we certainly need to play better.
“You have to credit Oregon State. They changed defenses on us. They went man, they played zone, and they changed the pace of their zone a bit. Those are things we have to get better at adjusting to. We struggled a little bit from the perimeter, but we did enough good things to win the game. Thanks goodness Glen Davis came back and helped us win that game (Sunday), Brady said.”
Wednesday’s game will be televised on FSN and broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and in the Geaux Zone powered by USAgencies at www.LSUsports.net. The Tigers return home to the Maravich Center on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game with Louisiana Tech.