BATON ROUGE — It may have been a limited Senior Night Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as the LSU Tigers had no senior players to honor, but only two managers prior to its game with Alabama.
But for the 10th-straight season, LSU won its final home game of the year and in the process won its fourth-straight game rallying to finally drive by Alabama, 80-74.
It was two first-year players who combined to score 56 of LSU’s 80 points and a junior who has hit his stride as a defensive player at LSU, blocking seven shots for the second straight game.
Anthony Randolph hit 10-of-16 shots and 9-of-9 at the free throw line to score 29 points with five blocks. Marcus Thornton hit 10-of-17 shots, including four treys and three free throws to finish with 27 points and five assists and Chris Johnson had his third double double in the last four games as he had 11 points, 10 rebounds with four assists and seven blocked shots. Although team leader Garrett Temple only scored one point, even he was big in the act with a career high eight assists.
Richard Hendrix had 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead Alabama, with Demetrius Jemison getting 14, Senario Hillman 12 and Alonzo Gee 10.
Alabama took control of the first half breaking away from the game’s seventh tie at 22-22 with 9:27 left to outscore, 22-15, over the remainder of the half. Alabama dominated the games on the board with 24 rebounds to just eight for the Tigers at halftime, including 13 offensive boards. Keeping LSU as close as it could be was a 56 percent shooting half, 14-of-25.
But the Tigers, with the crowd rocking in support and standing much of the last 10 minutes, gradually got back in the game, finally tying the game at 68-68 with 5:12 to go on a dunk by Thornton. Randolph then gave LSU the lead at the 4:47 mark, 70-68. The teams then exchanged the lead back and forth for almost four minutes before a free throw by Hendrix tied the game at 74-74 with 56 seconds to play.
LSU came down on its next possession and rolled its offense around to Thornton who hit a swishing three with 38 seconds left to give LSU a 77-74 advantage. Mykal Riley came down for Bama with 20 seconds left and tried a three-pointer that was partially blocked by Johnson and Thornton rebounded and was fouled.
Thornton made one free throw to go up 78-74 with 14 seconds left and Alabama couldn’t score and two more free throws sealed the deal for the Tigers (now 13-16 overall and 6-9 in the league). Alabama falls to 15-15 and 4-11 in the league.
With the LSU win and losses by Alabama and Auburn, the Tigers are in a tie for third with Ole Miss at 6-9 and can finish the season no worse than fourth in the West. Ole Miss has most of the tiebreakers if the teams tie.
LSU concludes the regular season Saturday at Mississippi State in a 3 p.m. game in Starkville that will be televised regionally by Raycom Sports. LSU interim coach Butch Pierre, now 5-3 as the LSU head coach, will return to the place where he played his college ball for the first time as a head coach.
LSU INTERIM HEAD COACH BUTCH PIERRE QUOTES
Opening statement…
“That was fantastic. The crowd was unbelievable. The kids played extremely well and executed down the stretch. I thought in the first half, losing Chris Johnson to foul trouble, we gave up 44 points. We haven’t given up 44 points since I’ve been the head coach. I knew when Chris got back in the game in the second half he would be the energizer and give us something on the boards because we didn’t rebound the ball well. That is one of Alabama’s strongest assets. Also, we gave up some transition baskets early, but it seemed every loose ball or tip in, their guys were able to make a play. I think our players represented themselves well tonight. They showed some pride, determination and will, and they played like LSU Tigers.”
On the play of F Anthony Randolph …
“I really didn’t think Anthony was going to play like he did tonight. His preparation has been good the last couple days, but in pregame today, I thought he looked a little drowsy, like he slept most of the day. I gave him a call about 3:30 or four o’clock and got on him pretty good. He responded well tonight. He made plays when he needed to. He made free throws. I didn’t like how he rebounded the ball in the first half. He only had about two rebounds. Down the stretch he executed, and we got the ball to him. I thought all the guys played unselfish because when we needed certain guys to score the ball with certain plays we ran, we ran them to perfection and got timely baskets at the time we needed them.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On his improved play in the second half…
“We just came out wanting to win. Everybody came into halftime upset after we gave up 44 points. That was a bad defensive half. We were fired up in the locker room and came out with a lot of intensity.”
On how it is playing with F Chris Johnson…
“He helps me a lot, especially with the rebounds. I am fighting down there with (Richard) Hendrix and he goes after the rebounds while I am boxing out Hendrix. That helps a lot.”
On being limited in the first half because of foul trouble…
“I just felt I let my teammates down with those two early fouls. I just remember the coaches telling me to come out and contribute right away. I was ready to go after halftime.”
On his 3-point shot that broke give LSU the lead with 38 seconds left…
“I just tried to get myself free from the defender. I felt if I had a chance of putting it up there it had a good chance of going in. I thought I got fouled on the shot before that so I wanted to make up for that. That was an easy basket so for me to miss it, I had to make it up.”
On how F Anthony Randolph and C Chris Johnson performed tonight…
“Whenever Ant or Chris gets it going, it makes it easier for me. When they get going and start doing screens it frees me up. It was an all-around team effort and I am glad we got the victory in our last home game.”
ALABAMA HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED
Opening statement…
“I am so proud of our guys. I think we did so many things well and executed as efficiently as we would have liked to. Sometimes the game comes down to making a tough shot or not making a tough shot. We had a couple where we didn’t make some shots, and they stepped up and made a tough, contested, elbow-down-your-throat jump shot in the deep corner. I feel bad for our players because I think they played their absolute hearts out, and I’m proud of their effort.”
On guarding LSU G Marcus Thornton…
“He (Thornton) is good. He’s really talented, and Anthony Randolph, for a freshman, was just terrific tonight. Thornton is such a good player and a good scorer that you have to pay attention to him. I thought his baskets were earned. There were no free ones. He had to earn them with some tough defense on him, and I think the shot he made was a tough shot.”
On their game plan for the final shot…
“We had enough time that if we had the three (3-point shot), we wanted to take it, and if not, let’s go inside. We just tried to take what the defense gave us. We ran a play for (Mykal) Riley; they defended it well. Demetrius (Jemison) had the ball at the top of the key, and he probably was asking himself if he should have shot it or not. That’s a tough call. If we did it again, I would probably tell him to shoot it. I think he is a good 15 or 16-foot shooter, and he might have made it. I thought we executed just perfectly and got the ball in there and we went to the foul line and made one for two. We had a possession before that when we were up one. We swung the ball to Riley over there and had a good look at a three; that could have changed it. We just had a couple of those plays. Sometimes it’s you making a play or them making a play at the end of the game.”
ALABAMA FORWARD DEMETRIUS JEMISON
On some tough road games this season…
“It’s frustrating. It seems like sometimes when your back is against the wall, things just don’t go your way. It takes a toll on us.”
ALABAMA GUARD MYKAL RILEY
On the last possession…
“I was looking for a three to tie the game up, but they played good defense. They knew I was about to shoot it so they had a hand in my face.”