BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers made sure they got the last bucket this time around.
LSU’s Bo Spencer made a 17-foot jump shot with 19 seconds to play to break the ninth tie of the game and give LSU a 50-48 win over Georgia in the final home game of the season at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU had a chance to win in a similar situation a couple of weeks prior against Mississippi State, taking the lead only to have State make a winning three with seven seconds to play. This time LSU played the defense needed to get the win.
After timeouts by both teams, Georgia tried for the tie or the win. Jeremy Price’s turnaround jumper from the top of the key rattled out. Trey Tompkins got the offensive rebound, but his put back which didn’t go in appeared to be after the light came on signaling the end of the game anyway as the crowd celebrated LSU’s second straight home win.
LSU finished the regular season with an 11-19 record, 2-14 in the league, while Georgia fell to 13-16 and 5-11.
Tasmin Mitchell, in his final home game as a Tiger, had 20 points to lead LSU. That gives him 1,979 points going to the SEC tournament in Nashville in his bid to be just the third player in LSU history to hit the 2,000 point mark for his career. Spencer’s winning bucket put him in double figures at 10 points.
Trey Tompkins had 19 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks and four assists to lead Georgia.
Prior to the game, an emotional senior day ceremony honored Alex Farrer and Mitchell and Farr, who has been out all season after dislocating his left knee in a preseason scrimmage, started his final home game, his first start since his sophomore season.
Neither team could score in the early going with six missed shots and three turnovers. Mitchell went to the line to start knocking points off the student-made 2,000 point countdown meter that started at 1,959. His two free throws put LSU up 2-0 at the 17 minute mark.
Georgia then hit two free throws to tie and the game was looking for its first field goal when Price dunked at the 14:50 mark to make it 4-2 Georgia.
The lead went to 7-2 on a trey by Dustin Ware as the game went to the first TV timeout at the 13:38 mark. Mitchell finally got LSU’s first field goal at the 12:06 mark on three by Mitchell to make it 9-5.
A Storm Warren three-point play and a Dotson drive got the Georgia lead down to two, 12-10. Warren drove underneath to tie it at 12-12 as LSU began to take better shots and make them count.
Thompkins got Georgia the lead back on a layup and then Eddie Ludwig rebounded a Mitchell miss and scored to tie the game at 14-14. But both teams began to heat up and Georgia responded to go back in front.
Georgia opened back a four-point lead, but Warren hit a banker with 2:25 left to cut Georgia’s lead to 20-18. Mitchell fought threw for a 20-20 tie with 1:09 to play and after a turnover, LSU had a chance to take the lead in the final minute of the first half. But the Tigers missed two chances and it was tied at the half, 20-20.
Georgia scored on its first two possessions to go up 24-20 to force an LSU time out just 57 seconds into the second half. Mitchell scored on the next possession out of the time out to get to double figures and cut the lead back to two.
The Bulldogs would hit a couple of threes and had a six-point advantage as the game got down to 15 minutes. The Tigers worked it back and Mitchell hit a three with 13:03 left for his 18th point of the game and made it 33-32 Georgia. Populist would get LSU a 35-35 tie when he beat the shot clock with a trey.
Dennis Harris gave LSU the lead at 37-35 on a jumper with 9:39 to go and then after a foul Trent Johnson was called for a technical and the foul that was called before the technical and the resulting free throws gave Georgia a 38-37 lead back. But Harris got the bucket on the next possession and was fouled to give LSU the lead back in the see-saw affair, 40-38.
Georgia would get the lead back on a put back at 42-41 and Bo Spencer hit his second trey to put LSU back 44-42 with 4:43 to go but again on a second chance Georgia tied it at 44-44 as the clock went under four minutes.
Mitchell’s put back 12 footer gave him 20 points and LSU a 48-46 advantage with 2:14 left. Mitchell rebounded a Spencer miss, dribbled back and swished it. Georgia missed a shot and tied it on a put back of its own at 1:18 to go.
Spencer missed a three with one minute to play but a lob was too long and LSU had the ball with 43.6 remaining tied at 48-48.
LSU vs. Georgia
March 6, 2010
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON QUOTES
Opening statement …
“I’m happy for the seniors, and I’m happy to get a win. Obviously, tonight was a very emotional night, and it was a very emotional week. I’ve been doing this a long time, whether as an assistant coach or a player, and sometimes you are fortunate enough to come across a basketball player like Tasmin Mitchell who is very passionate about his school, team and this game, and respects his opponents. I’m just happy to see him and the team happy.
“We had a foul to give, but I called a timeout because I wanted to see what they were going to call. Obviously, there are some similarities between Coach Fox and me. I told the kids, ‘A three will beat us. Let’s not make the same mistake we did against Mississippi State. We’ve been in this position before so trust your defense and trust your teammates. Let’s not gamble.’ No sooner had I said that then Bo (Spencer) gambles, but at least we were able to recover and take away a three-ball. I think they got inside and got a decent look. Any win is a good win for us, but the uglier the game is, the better it is for us. I’m just happy the kids are happy, and we had a chance to win a game.”
On what led the final play for LSU …
“I don’t think I was playing cat and mouse with (Mark Fox) because he is cum laude. He is very bright and a very, very good basketball coach. He’s done a good job with this basketball team. He’s also done a very good job in the past of making me look good. The reason I’m sitting here is because of guys like him. There is a guy on his staff, Todd Okeson, who played point for me at Nevada, and then Mark Pope. I was more concerned with trying to keep Georgia out of rhythm. When they were in the zone, they were really attacking the back of the zone by getting (Travis Leslie) open. Being up as well, I thought the best thing we could do was put pressure on their perimeter to make tough passes. I don’t know how much it was cat and mouse as it was that I had timeouts to use, seeing what they are looking to do and making an adjustment from there. Offensively, we made some key adjustments, and the kids did a good job of executing. I thought Tasmin got frustrated there with six minutes to go, and instead of running him at the baseline, we ran him at the high post and allowed him and Bo to screen for one another. I said, ‘One of you two is going to have to shoot it, but don’t leave Daron Populist over in the corner if he is on his own.’ I was so surprised Bo came off of the play as open as he was, but also Bo dribbled and took a good shot. Tasmin set a good screen.”
On the game plan in the final minutes …
“We don’t’ have any NBA players on this team. Well, maybe one, but we aren’t in the NBA. We were in the position before against Mississippi State, and I told them whether we are up two or tied, we need to defend. I wasn’t going to foul. I had a timeout to kill, so I told them if they got out of sync on offense to use it. I always talk to them during the course of the game. There have been a lot of games during the season where we used timeouts to keep people from running away from us, but we weren’t thinking two-for-one. We wanted to get a good look, then sprint back and get on the man and take our chances from there.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On his emotions n the senior day ceremony …
“The ceremony was really emotional because I have been here for a while and it was my last game playing at the PMAC. I just cherish this moment and having all of my family out there absorbing the moment with me. It was really emotional for me.”
On the last play of the game …
“I was like please just fall off and it did. I blocked, I might have been blocking out my own man I just felt like blocking somebody out so they wouldn’t get the rebound. I knew he had taken a really ill-advised shot, but he had to and I knew it would be 50-50 that it would go in or not so I just wanted to be the closest person to the ball and just block out anybody. Like I said I might have been blocking out Storm or Eddie but I was trying to block out so they wouldn’t get the rebound.”
On how important it is for him to get to 2,000 points …
“Y’all are putting pressure on me. I just want to go down there and play basketball and if I get it it would be an honor and if I don’t it would still be an honor to be up there with the greats. I am going to try out there and help my team win, especially against Tennessee.”
On how it feels to close the SEC season with a win …
“It felt great for selfish reasons because it is my last home game to get a victory. Hopefully we can just try to keep this going into the SEC tournament. Georgia did it a couple years ago. They had a record like us and went on to win the SEC tournament so that is what we are trying to thrive for now. Senior day was ok, we won, but now it is time to go to the SEC tournament and make something happen.”
On how he will remember his career 20 years from now …
“I am not going to try to remember the bad times, just the good times. We can sit back, me and Marcus Thornton and Bo Spencer. We might be fat and whatever we are, playing ball somewhere and just talking about the good times. I played on some great teams with some great guys. There will be a whole lot of joking around. Twenty years from now hopefully my legacy will still continue through LSU.”
On if he liked the student section having a big cut-out head of him …
“Yeah I liked that. I felt like they should have had that all year. It was good to see the fans and everybody come out and support me. My hometown of Denham Springs and Baton Rouge and the city just came together as one and came to support me.”
On the play that led to his game winning shot …
“Me and Tasmin are the two veterans and the main two primary scorers. Coach told us to put Tasmin at the top and just screen and one of us take the best available shot. I came off a screen twice and got it to Tasmin and he got it back to me. I took a dribble and got an opening and I knocked it down.”
On Georgia’s defense …
“They did an excellent job of face guarding us the whole game and Tasmin got some open shots and knocked them down. It seemed like I had a tough night but when that shot went down I breathed a sigh of relief.”
On how it felt to get his teammate Tasmin Mitchell a win on senior day …
“I told Tasmin that I would get him a victory on his way out of here. I am proud to get the win and see it come through and play a good game even though it wasn’t the prettiest or best game. We came out to get the victory and Tasmin got a win at home so it is a great feeling.”
F Eddie Ludwig
On how he felt playing in the zone …
“I like playing zone because you are playing an area rather than a man so you can just ball-hawk around and I just felt comfortable in the zone. I have pretty much felt comfortable all season in the zone so I think Coach thought I was playing good so he was going to keep me in all game.”
GEORGIA POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Fox
On the final possession…
“We were looking for a trey, but then the ball got stuck with Travis (Leslie) and we couldn’t get it out of there. We had to put it down quick, and obviously we didn’t get it to the hoop.”
On Travis Leslie’s performance today…
“He didn’t play well, and he needs to learn from this. He’s a great kid and a great player, but he’s just got to become more consistent.”
On LSU’s zone defense today…
“We’ve played against a lot of zone (defense), but we didn’t shoot the ball. Our perimeter play for us was not anything like what it’s been for us in the past five or six weeks.”
On coaching a young team…
“I think maturity is certainly an issue, preparation is an issue, and talent level can be an issue. But, you know, we’re going to work to make it better.”