BATON ROUGE — Despite being out rebounded by 14 and getting just five offensive rebounds while giving up 20, the LSU Tigers were able to outscore Northwestern State Saturday night at the Maravich Center, winning 82-58 over the Demons.
The Tigers (6-3) won for the fifth time this year against Louisiana competition at the Maravich Center, extending for another season the home winning streak against state schools that now totals at 67 straight dating back to Dec. 8, 1988. This was the final home game against a state school that LSU will play this year although LSU will face Tulane in the New Orleans Arena on Jan. 2.
Marcus Thornton led LSU with 22 points in 24 minutes, hitting four treys, one of four players in double figures for LSU. Colby Bargeman led the Demons (4-7) with 15 points, but Jerry Moody led all rebounders with 14 boards, including six offensive, more than the entire LSU squad.
Thornton scored the game’s first five points, and LSU never trailed. He was 7-for-15 on field goals, including four 3-point shots, grabbed five rebounds and made three steals.
The Tigers also got 16 points from Chris Johnson, who was 6-of-8 from the field. Terry Martin had three 3-pointers and 15 points; Anthony Randolph made 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Colby Bargeman had a season-high 15 points for the Demons. Trey Gilder, who entered the game with a 17-point average, missed eight of 10 field goal attempts and scored only seven points.
Johnson and Northwestern State turnovers gave the Tigers a 39-24 halftime lead, and the Demons never got closer than eight points in the second half.
With LSU holding a four-point lead in the first half, Johnson scored 12 of the team’s next 16 points. Northwestern State, which was averaging 19 turnovers a game, committed 14 in the first half, and the Tigers converted them into 15 points, finishing with 27 points off 21 turnovers.
The Tigers next travel to Wichita, Kan., for a Wednesday night game at Wichita State (7 p.m., televised by CST-TD on Thursday afternoon) before coming home for the first of two straight Saturdays against Pac-10 foes as LSU plays Oregon State at 2 p.m. (televised by CST).
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY QUOTES
Opening statement…
“One thing I did see about us tonight is that we are going to be a good shooting team. However, we still made poor decisions with the ball. This was a poor rebounding night. Northwestern State out-hustled us to balls. They got 20 offensive rebounds. We got killed on the boards and I told the team it was embarrassing. The good thing about it is from here on out the game is on. We have Wichita State on the road, Oregon State at home, Washington at home, Tulane in New Orleans and Texas A&M on the road. It’s on now. That is what I am looking forward to.”
“If you make a mistake you will pay for it against the teams we are going to play from now on. One thing we are going to do in practice tomorrow, starting at 4 o’clock, is rebounding drills for about an hour and a half until somebody draws blood somewhere. I was disgusted with the way we rebounded the ball and the lack of blocking out. Other then that, we can score the ball and shoot pretty well. We guard decent. Our rebounding and decision making must improve or we are going to have a difficult time beating quality teams, particularly on the road.”
On any difference from how the team played at the beginning of the season to now…
“I don’t know. Maybe we play to the competition. I didn’t see much difference. I did see improvement in how we played in Philadelphia (against Villanova) before we melted down. Our sense of urgency was a lot better against that team. Maybe it is who we play. The beauty about it is now there is no team that we face that isn’t going to make a basket because they can’t shoot. There is not going to be a team that will make poor decisions or fumble the ball. The game is on now – from here on out. We are playing some real guys that are put together by good coaches. If there are flaws and holes or guys that aren’t competitive, it will show up big time. I can’t wait.”
NORTHWESTERN STATE HEAD COACH MIKE MCCONATHY QUOTES
On how LSU was able to pull away in the second half …
“I think we made some shots and attacked the basket. We got Trey Gilder and Michael (McConathy) at the line to get free throws within the first five minutes of the second half, and we attacked the bucket more instead of just settling for just whatever came up. That’s the biggest problem we’ve had all year. When you shoot 31 percent, you are not going to beat anyone.
“We attacked the bucket and got some easy baskets. I felt like defensively we forced them into some things just because they had to make some adjustments. We didn’t continue to do that. Then we cut it to eight points and have a series of unfortunate incidences where they (LSU) hit back-to-back threes after a good many free throws where there was an intentional foul called and then a technical foul called on me. I guess I get credit for it. They got four free throws there. Then they hit back-to-back threes, so that’s 10 points.”
On the play of C Jerry Moody …
“I knew Jerry would come and compete hard to get 14 rebounds. I knew offensively he wouldn’t be the answer tonight. It’s going to take him a little bit of time to feel his way back into it, but it was good effort. I thought he did a great job, and I was proud to get him back in uniform and on the court. I thought that was very big for him.”
On his team’s effort tonight …
“I think that we competed, and we played hard. You look at the scoreboard and see you got beat by 24 points, but we competed. Forty-eight rebounds to their 34 is big. We had some turnovers, but we had a lot of those in the first half. A lot of times our turnovers turned in to points for them, and they (LSU) are very talented. Coach (John) Brady does a great job, and it’s great to be able to play people who have as much talent as they do because you have to get better. I told my kids we got better in some areas. We got 48 rebounds. That’s a victory in one sense. Where Northwestern is at this point when you’re playing these guarantee games, you’ve got to find little victories that you can take home, and we have to look at that.”