Game 2: LSU def. Alcorn St., 77-45
BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers got out to a quick start, showing more an improved effort from game one to game two, and easily defeated Alcorn State, 77-45, in the Tigers opening game of the LSU Invitational.
The two-weekend five-team, four-game round robin tournament opened with Centenary rallying to defeat Troy, 81-77. Troy (0-3) and Alcorn State (0-3) meet in the 1:30 p.m. opener on Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, while Centenary (1-2) will face Northwestern State (1-1) in the 4 p.m. second game. LSU (2-0) will play Northwestern State on Sunday at 2 p.m. to close out the first weekend of the event. Admission to Friday’s games is free while tickets are on sale for Sunday’s single game starting at $5 at LSUsports.net.
Tasmin Mitchell, Storm Warren and Alex Farrer led a balanced scoring attack for the Tigers. Mitchell, who played just 18 minutes, finished with 12 points and six rebounds for the Tigers. Mitchell made 4-of-6 field goal attempts, and all four of his free throws.
Warren, playing in just his second game, had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He also recorded four blocked shots and two assists. Farrer, who made a pair of three-pointers, also finished with 11 points.
Troy Jackson was the only player to score in double figures for the Braves, notching 16 points.
LSU tied the long-standing school record for blocked shots with 16 in the contest, equaling the mark set by the Shaquille O’Neal-Stanley Roberts led Tigers in a game with Texas on Jan. 2, 1990. Besides Warren’s four blocks, Chris Johnson also had four and Delwan Graham three swats.
LSU pulled down 55 rebounds to win the battle of the boards, 55-38 and held Alcorn State to just 20.6 percent from the field (13-of-63). LSU shot 41.8 percent for the game (28-of-67) but hit seven treys and 14-of-18 from the stripe. LSU had 20 assists and 13 turnovers, while forcing 14 Alcorn turnovers that resulted in 17 points.
All 12 players dressed played at least seven minutes and three non-starters ? Chris Bass, Warren and Farrer ? played the most minutes (22).
“We had two and half days of very intense practice,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson. “Obviously, with all respect due to Alcorn State, we are bigger, stronger and quicker and I know they will improve as a basketball team as the year goes on. Our big emphasis is going to be on ourselves regardless of who we play, where we play and when we play. I mentioned to (the team) right after the game, that our schedule is set up so that each team we play moving forward is a better team than the team we played (Thursday). We play Northwestern State on Sunday and we played them last year when I was at Stanford. It was a six-point ball game at the half. Mike (McConathy) does as excellent job as their head coach. We need to get a day off and then we will come back Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. and get ready to go to work.”
LSU proved to be the much quicker team early on, jumping out 11-2 in the first four minutes with Garrett Temple hitting the first five points of the game. Mitchell got four off a hook and a rebound bucket and Bo Spencer had a driving layup.
LSU’s defense proved airtight as Alcorn opened 1-of-13 as LSU built a 15-2 lead with 12:48 to play in the half when Coach Trent Johnson went to the bench. On the first possession, Farrer buried a corner three and the lead went to 18-2. LSU opened the game 7-of-14 and 2-of-5 from the arc.
As the clock ticked under 10 minutes, Jackson had two three pointers and had all nine of Alcorn’s points.
Again the starters came back and expanded the lead to LSU 27, Jackson of Alcorn 11 before the next five players for LSU came in at the 6:30 mark. Anthony Ford hit a trey with just over four minutes to play in the half to become the second Alcorn player to score as LSU led 30-14 heading to the final first half media time out with 3:45 to play. LSU would lead 39-23 at intermission.
NOTE: LSU tied the record for most blocks in a game set at 16 in 1990 against Texas.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON QUOTES
Opening statement …
“We had two and half days of very intense practice. Obviously, with all respect due to Alcorn State, we are bigger, stronger and quicker and I know they will improve as a basketball team as the year goes on. Our big emphasis is going to be on ourselves regardless of who we play, where we play and when awe play. I mentioned to (the team) right after the game, that our schedule is set up so that each team we play moving forward is a better team than the team we played tonight. We play Northwestern State on Sunday and we played them last year when I was at Stanford. It was a six-point ball game at the half. Mike (McConathy) does as excellent job as their head coach. We need to get a day off and then we will come back Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. and get ready to go to work.”
On his thoughts about LSU’s start in tonight’s game …
“I’m happy with the start, but we have a problem. We had eight offensive rebounds against us against Jackson State and we had 11 tonight. I am happy with the start. For me, it is all about their intensity, not their effort because they give effort. Also, it’s not about me or us as coaches, (players) are the ones that have to buy in and get the job done. For the most part, I thought the offensive execution was good and I thought we got off to a decent start defensively. I thought that Marcus Thornton’s energy defensively was very, very good.”
On Marcus Thornton’s performance …
“He went three for seven and I don’t expect him to make every one. I’m not concerned about his offense. I don’t worry about that side of the floor. The thing I’m excited about is that he competed at a high level against a kid who had the ball in hands all the time.”
On his substitution patterns …
“That depends. It depends on my feel and it depends on what is happening on the floor. I don’t have a first and a second team. I substitute by feel. There is no set pattern. The guys that I feel are ready to play are going to play. I didn’t feel going into tonight that we would lose much by putting in five at a time with Alex (Farrer), Terry (Martin) and Chris Bass, who is a freshman, but has a lot of energy and he is never down. Storm (Warren) has been so consistent. Quintin Thornton is a guy that is going to be really good for us because he understands what we are doing. I can’t say we are always going to sub five at a time, but tonight I felt good about it and they made me look like it was a good decision.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
FORWARD TASMIN MITCHELL
Opening statement…
“We came out here, and I think we got better. We got some of the guys going that we’re going to need to play a lot of minutes, and they were productive. I think we got better overall.
On improving from the first game…
In the first game, everyone is always uptight, so we just had to come out here and relax. We didn’t want to have too much emotion like we did in the first game. We just relaxed, let everything come to us and let everything fall in place, and that’s what we did.”
GUARD GARRETT TEMPLE
Opening statement…
“The goal tonight was to come out and play more aggressively on defense. We gave up 65 points in the first game, and that wasn’t what we did in the first two exhibition games, so we wanted to come out and set the tone on defense. We kept them under 50 points, which was the goal, so I think we did good job in that regard.”
On starting the game on a 21-2 run…
“In the last game, we started off 8-2, and we let them come back and took the throttle off. Coach Brent Scott came up to Tasmin Mitchell and me before the game and told us to put the hammer down. I think we did a good job. Defensively, that’s where it starts. We got some easy baskets on the run, and we guarded them. Troy Jackson got a couple of tough shots off that he knocked down, but in the second half, we did a good job on him. It was all about the defense at the end.”
FORWARD STORM WARREN
Opening statement…
“I just worked really hard, played my role, waited my turn and contributed and did what we needed to do.”
On having a double-double off the bench…
“It’s just like I said at first; I just come out, play my role and do what I have to do to contribute to the team. I try to be an outstanding player, play my role to the best of my abilities and also get my teammates involved so we’ll be successful and win the game.”
Game 1: Centenary def. Troy, 81-77
BATON ROUGE — Nick Stallings hit two free throws with 1:08 to go to rally the Centenary Gents to an 81-77 win over the Troy Trojans Thursday afternoon in the first game of the LSU Invitational at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Stallings led all scorers with 31 points, hitting 12-of-17 field goals with five assists in 39 minutes for the 1-2 Gents. Gary Redus added 21 points and Anthony Gatlin 10. Troy, 0-3, was led by Richard Delk with 23 points and Tom Jervis added 18. Michael Voegler had 10 assists for the Trojans.
Troy had a 41-40 advantage at the intermission and had as much of a 13-point lead in the first 20 minutes. The Trojans had as much as an eight-point lead with 10 minutes to play and led 75-71 with 4:28 to play.
Centenary cut it to 75-73 on a Redus layup with 3:52 to play and then tied the game on Jerrald Bonham’s only bucket of the game tied the game at 75 with 1:50 to play. After Stallings’ two free throws gave the Gents the lead, the Centenary defense clamped down on Troy and Centenary clinched the game on two free throws by Redus with 21 seconds to play.
The Gents take on Northwestern State (1-1) at 4 p.m. in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, while Troy meets Alcorn State in the 1:30 p.m. opener. LSU and Alcorn met in the nightcap Thursday.
TROY HEAD COACH DON MAESTRI
On the game…
“I give a lot of credit to Centenary. Those guys fought back. They never once gave up, and they made some big baskets and then, made two free throws down the stretch. We were hoping one or two of those free throws would miss, and they would give us a second chance, but they made the big free throws when they needed them. We made some turnovers down the stretch. You have to do those things that win close games, and that’s not turning the ball over and making big shots down the stretch.”
On having to play again in such a short time span…
“I’m glad we’re playing again right off the bat tomorrow. Sooner or later, hopefully soon like tomorrow, we need a win. Centenary needed a win today just like we need to win. We’ve got to get that feeling that only comes with winning. Until you win, it’s a long, miserable ride back to the hotel room.”
CENTENARY HEAD COACH GREG GARY
On the execution of the second half …
“In the second half, we really started to get those loose balls. In the first half, we were just flat and they (Troy) were getting the loose balls. When we started to get possession of the loose balls, momentum shifted in our direction. We can win these close these close games if we play with a sense of urgency and get the loose ball. They executed real well down the stretch in the second half.”
On Troy using man-on-man defense …
“I was really surprised Troy usually plays zone 90% of the time. This time they decided to play man-on- man. I was glad, because this is something that we have really been working on this week. However, they executed man-on-man very well.”