Glen Davis matched his season high of
26 points with 12 rebounds as the Tigers improved to 8-3 and Wright State fell to 5-6.
In
the opener of the tournament, Samford needed overtime to win its fourth straight
game, 64-59, over Mississippi Valley State.
In
Thursday night's second session of round-robin play, Samford will take on
Wright State at 5 p.m. with LSU and Mississippi Valley State to meet at 7:30
p.m.
Davis
hit 10-of-13 field goals and for the first time hit more than one three pointer
in a game, hitting his first three attempts before finishing 3-of-5 at the arc.
Dameon Mason and Terry Martin each had 14 points for
LSU, which had 19 assists to just eight turnovers with eight blocks. LSU hit 56
percent for the game from the field (28-of-50) and 9-of-19 (47.4 percent from
the arc).
Wright
State
was led by the 17 points of DaShaun Wood. The Raiders shot 34.5 percent from the
field (19-of-55) and 4-of-13 from the arc.
The
Raiders didn't turn the ball over in the first 20 minutes of play and managed to
state close to the Tigers, training just 36-28 at the intermission. LSU came out
smoking from the field, shooting over 70 percent for the first 12 minutes of the
second half and used a 10-0 run to boost the margin to 60-34 with 11:25 to play
and eventually led by as much as 28, 71-43, in the final two
minutes.
"Just
from sitting on the bench and getting a feel for our team, that was as good as I
have felt since the Texas A&M game," said LSU Coach John Brady. "We approached the game
unselfishly and I think we you are unselfish on offense, you are better at
getting balls in the basket.
“We
had 19 assists and 28 field goals and that is pretty good. We had good player
movement and good ball movement. We shot well for the most part and took care of
the basketball. Our challenge now is to get some rest and to do it again
(Thursday)."