BATON ROUGE — Jermareo Davidson hit a pair of free throws in the final minute to give the Tide its first lead in the final 30 minutes, as the Tide defeated the LSU men’s basketball team, 73-70, on Wednesday night.
LSU (13-8, 2-5 SEC) lost for the fourth-straight game and the second-in-a-row at the PMAC. Alabama completed its season sweep of the Tigers and improved to 16-5, 3-4 in SEC play.
Despite holding an eight-point lead in the final 10 minutes, shooting nearly 52 percent from the field and scoring more than 70 points for the first time since December, LSU couldn’t pull out the victory.
Glen Davis again led the Tigers with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while Tasmin Mitchell added 14 and Chris Johnson sparked the offense with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Johnson started for the first time as a Tiger and also had three blocked shots in 18 minutes.
Davidson led all scorers with 31 points and eight rebounds, while Alabama forward Richard Hendrix added 13 and guard Mykal Riley had 12.
Alabama also shot 52 percent from the field (28 of 54), and outrebounded LSU, 30-24. The Tide had 22 second-chance points.
With just under a minute to play and a one-point lead, LSU took a quick shot off an in-bound play with a full shot clock to give Alabama a chance at its first lead since the 10-minute mark of the first half.
Davidson then capped his career night — 31 points and seven rebounds — with a pair of free throws to give the Tide a 69-68 lead.
A turnover by Garrett Temple allowed Alabama two more free throws and put the Tigers down by three, 71-68, with 21.3 seconds left.
Coming out of an Alabama timeout, LSU got a second-chance basket by LSU’s Chris Johnson. However, the Tigers couldn’t catch a Tide player to foul and Alabama ran out the clock, adding a dunk at the buzzer.
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY QUOTES
Opening statement…
“We improved our offense tonight, but we just couldn’t stop people. We have to get back to playing well on defense. I was pleased with our effort tonight. We had some guys play well and improve, but we still need to make something outside of six or eight feet. We have to play better in the last five minutes of a game. We didn’t play the last five minutes well against Georgia and we didn’t play well the last five minutes tonight. We had some opportunities in the last five minutes but we made some poor decisions. We needed to continue to execute and play like we were prior to that point. I thought the offense overall was improved. Some guys were able to shoot the ball well. Chris Johnson played well for us considering he hasn’t played much this season. We have to come back tomorrow and improve to be ready to go on the road against Mississippi State on Saturday.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On the play of the team tonight …
“(LSU center) Chris Johnson gave us a great lift offensively. That’s what we expected out of him, but defensively we weren’t our old selves today. We let (Alabama forward) Jermareo Davidson have his way in the paint, but other than that I think we guarded them as a team pretty good. (Alabama forward) Alonzo Gee didn’t go off on us like he last time, and (Alabama point guard) Ronald Steele didn’t score. Offensively we did good until the last three or four minutes of the game. We should have found a way to stop Davidson. We’re pleased with our offensive output we had. We just have to go back to our old selves on defense.”
On if it was difficult starting since he had not started before …
“No. I feel that I can play in the SEC, so I just had to go out there and prove it.”
On if he knew he was going to start tonight …
“I really didn’t have a feeling that I would. I was nervous, of course. I think anybody would. Just being able to help my team in any way I can.”
ALABAMA HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
Opening Statement
“I thought both teams played awfully well. LSU played great, and we made a few more plays than they did and were able to win. I liked how our guys competed, hard. They made the little fury where they got up. I think it is a situation where our guys could have hung their heads a little bit. They didn’t. They bounced back. I thought that was a key part of the game when they pressed us a little bit. Our team just competed. They are a close-knit group of guys. There hasn’t been a whole lot of smiling here the last eight or 10 days. They earned this one. It was a gutsy, tough, hard-fought win for them. I am proud of them for that.”
On Jermareo Davidson’s performance …
“He stepped up. Jermareo, I thought, was phenomenal. He just stepped up with a lot of courage, and we went to him when we needed to down with a little isolation play. He took it strong to the basket. He just willed our team to a victory. He did a great job tonight.”
ALABAMA PLAYER QUOTES
F Jermareo Davidson
On the play that led to the game-winning free throws …
“He originally set it up for the other man who was guarding me, but I looked over and asked if he still wanted me to do it. I followed through with it. It was a pretty good call.”
On the win …
“I am happy we were able to finally get one. It’s been tough on us. This whole week we had been focusing on teamwork and moving the ball a little more. Defense, if I leave my man to help, I am supposed to have faith to know that someone else is helping me. It is something we are still kind of lacking at times, but we pulled it together tonight.”
On his performance …
“I didn’t know how many (points) I had. That is the whole part of the teamwork. Don’t look at the clock, just play. Don’t worry about your points or none of that. I take them as they come. It is something Coach (Mark) Gottfried has been getting on me about, just finishing around the rim.”