BATON ROUGE — No. 17 LSU used its offensive firepower and a stingy defense to score an easy 92-58 win over Mississippi Valley State to conclude the second night of the Hispanic College Funds Classic at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Earlier in the day, Wright State downed Samford by a score of 61-50.
In the Friday finale of the round-robin event, Wright State and Mississippi Valley will meet at 5 p.m. followed by LSU and Samford in the 7:30 p.m. nightcap. Tickets for the game are $11 and $5 for youth (3-12) and available all day online at www.LSUsports.net. Ticket sales begin at the upper concourse windows of the Maravich Center at 3:30 p.m. There is no television for the game that will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and in the “Geaux Zone powered by USAgencies” at www.LSUsports.net.
Glen Davis led LSU for the second straight night with his third consecutive double double with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 13 rebounds. Davis also had four assists and three steals in 32 minutes. Tasmin Mitchell hit 6-of-8 field goal attempts in scoring 17 points, while Dameon Mason put in 13 and Darnell Lazare and Terry Martin had 10. Garrett Temple had seven assists and three steals.
LSU shot 56.5 percent for the game (35-of-62), 6-of-17 from the arc, compared to 39.6 percent for Mississippi Valley and 3-of-12 from the three-point stripe … LSU out rebounded the visitors, 41-28. LSU had 21 assists.
Larry Cox led MVSU (3-8) with nine points and eight boards.
The Tigers put the game away early on a 15-0 run, equaling the biggest scoring run of the season, to open the game in the first 4:55 of the contest. Mitchell hit a jumper followed by a Mason three-pointer. Mitchell got his own three-pointer forcing a MVSU timeout at 8-0. Darnell Lazare added a bucket before a Davis layup and then a Davis top of the key three-pointer completed the run.
LSU would lead, 47-21, at the intermission.
The only excitement in the second half came at the 12:18 mark when following a series of plays under the LSU basket where Glen Davis appeared to fight off at least three defenders banging on him for a layup, John Brady was hit with two technical fouls in a 15-second period for arguing the no-call and was ejected from the game.
The Tigers would lead by as many as 40 in the latter stages of the second half.
“For the 30 minutes I saw of the game,” said Brady, “I thought our team defended exceptionally well. I thought we were able to control the game defensively by the pressure we applied … I thought our bench played well and played hard … Our energy level (Thursday) was great.”
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY QUOTES
Opening statement…
“When I came back in the locker room I was by myself and then my wife and daughters showed up. The first thing I did was I apologized to them, because I hope I didn’t embarrass them. They were ok with it, but I still want to apologize for that (getting ejected from the game.) It is just like any other game, I am going to try and coach to the end and I expect the game to be officiated to the end. We are supposed to play and coach to the end, which is why I expect the same with the officiating.”
On tonight’s game…
“For the 30 minutes I saw of the game, I thought our team defended exceptionally well. I thought we were able to control the game defensively by the pressure we applied. I thought that was the best energy level I have seen out of Glen Davis. I thought he played really well and set the tone for everything we did. I even called a couple of plays for Glen but he said he wanted to run something for somebody else. I thought Tasmin Mitchell and Garrett Temple were outstanding on defense. Dameon Mason had another good game and I was proud of him. I thought our bench played well and played hard. After I watched the tape of last night’s game, even though we held Wright State to 45 points, I realized our energy level defensively wasn’t what I originally thought it was. However, our energy level tonight was great.”
On facing Samford tomorrow night …
“Hopefully we can defend them well, because they do a lot of things offensively. They do a lot of cutting, moving and passing. I am hoping defensively we can still have the same intensity we had in tonight’s game. We are not going to be able to be casual and relax. We are going to have to use our athleticism and bench players to keep the pressure on them.”
Head Coach James Green
Thoughts on the game…
“LSU is very good. We have played at Kentucky. We have played at USC. LSU is a very talented and physical team. They move the ball fast and obviously we are not a match for LSU. We have to look at this game at a different way than other teams. They’ve done a great job. Their coaching staff and players are great. We have to take this game and use it as an experience to help us somewhere is our league.”
Game 3 Recap and Quotes:
BATON ROUGE — The Samford University basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped Thursday as the Bulldogs dropped a 61-50 decision against the Wright State Raiders at the 2006 Hispanic College Funds Classic held at LSU’s Maravich Center.
With the loss, Samford (6-5) dropped its first game since Dec. 2, a 59-54 loss at South Alabama. The Bulldogs will conclude its month-long, seven-game road trip Friday against the 17th-ranked and homestanding LSU Tigers. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
Wright State (6-6) shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the floor Thursday and improved to 1-1 in the three-day Hispanic College Funds Classic. In their opening game of the competition, the Raiders fell to LSU, 71-45.
Senior guard DaShaun Wood scored a game-high 20 points to lead Wright State, while Samford’s Randall Gulina paced the Bulldogs with 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field. The Raiders won the battle of the boards and out-rebounded Samford, 28-19.
The Bulldogs’ Curtis West and Travis Peterson both finished with 11 points in the game while senior point guard Jerry Smith led the team with five rebounds.
Samford only trailed by two points, 38-36, with 15:52 remaining when the Raiders used a 10-2 run midway through the second half to break the game open. The Bulldogs’ shooting touch went cold in the final period and the team only scored nine points in a nearly 13-minute stretch.
Samford shot 28.6 percent from the field in the second half.
The loss was Samford’s worst defeat since dropping an 86-57 decision on the road to the 15th-ranked Arizona Wildcats on Nov. 22.
The Bulldogs have played nine of their 11 games away from home this season and have compiled a 4-5 record. Three of Samford’s four road victories have come against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. The Bulldogs currently lead the league with an undefeated 3-0 record.
Behind a 65.4 shooting percentage from the field in the first half, Wright State took a 35-30 advantage at intermission.
The Raiders’ Woods led all scorers with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor in the opening period, while Samford was paced by Gulina’s 10 points. The Bulldogs shot at a 52.4 clip from the field in the first half and connected on 42.9 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Samford’s biggest lead in the game was a 25-22 advantage with 6:04 remaining in the opening period. In the midst of a 7-0 run for the Bulldogs, Merritt scored on a back-door cut to give Samford its three-point lead.
Merritt tallied five points in the first half of play while Baton Rouge-native West scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Friday as the Bulldogs conclude their month-long, seven-game road swing against the 17th-ranked LSU Tigers.
The non-conference contest will be the finale of the 2006 Hispanic College Funds Classic held here at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, La.
WRIGHT STATE HEAD COACH BRAD BROWNELL QUOTES
Opening statement…
“I thought our kids really increased their activity level for the last 30 minutes of the game. We really challenged some of their shots late in the game after they had been shooting well in the early goings. Samford is a really tough-minded group. They have tough kids that know how to play the game. I am proud of the way our kids came back after only one day to prepare. To pay attention that well and to be that focused speaks very highly of our players.”
On Jordan Pleiman…
“Jordan played really well early and we wanted to get him the ball early inside. To Samford’s credit they made some adjustments during the game to make it more difficult for Jordan during the second half. Their match-up zone defense can be troublesome at times, but for the most part our kids were aggressive and found ways to get open shots.”