NEW ORLEANS (AP) — David Gomez scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for Tulane, which got its first victory over LSU in nearly 26 years as the Green Wave recorded a 68-63 win at the New Orleans Arena on Wednesday night.
Kevin Sims added 12 points as Tulane took its seventh win in the past eight games to improve to 10-4 for its best start in eight years.
Terry Martin scored a season-high 19 points for the struggling Tigers (7-6) while Anthony Randolph had 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Green Wave’s victory was of the hard-fought variety, with the lead changing hands four times in the final 3 1/2 minutes.
Daniel Puckett gave Tulane the lead for good with a turnaround jumper that made it 65-63 with 1:16 remaining. LSU’s Randolph missed inside at the other end of the court, and Puckett split a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left to make it 66-63.
Donnavan Stith sealed the win after another Randolph miss with a pair of free throws with 14.9 seconds remaining.
Tulane broke open a 46-46 game with an 8-0 second-half run that Sims ended with a 3-pointer with 11:26 left. The 54-46 lead marked Tulane’s largest advantage in the game.
LSU’s Garrett Temple answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and the Tigers fought their way back into it, pulling within 56-54 with 9:12 left on Dameon Mason‘s layup. LSU took the lead, 61-60, on a Randolph dunk with 3:23 left, setting the stage for a finish that proved as dramatic as the first half hinted it might be.
The Tigers held a 32-31 lead at the half after Tulane’s Kris Richard hit a half-court shot at the buzzer.
The Tigers had led by as many as seven points in the first half, 24-17, when Martin drained a 3-pointer to cap a 5-0 run that included free throws scored via technical fouls on Gomez (hanging on the rim) and Green Wave coach Dave Dickerson. Tulane battled back with a 9-0 run of its own, reclaiming a 26-24 lead on Stith’s three-point play at the 4:06 mark.
The Tigers, who travel to College Station, Texas, to take on Texas A&M Saturday night at 7 p.m. on ESPNU, appear to have more numbers trouble as junior forward Chris Johnson apparently hit his right hand on the back of a players head while crossing the court off a screen and left the court in the second half in obvious pain. He did not return and his status for Saturday’s game was unknown.