Article by Matt Dunaway Photo by Steve Franz, LSU Athletics Staff Photographer
BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team continued its winning ways after its final exam break and secured its fourth straight victory behind Jordan Mickey’s 21 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to claim a 76-67 win over Sam Houston State Saturday at the Maravich Center.
For Mickey, he was 9-of-21 from the floor. It was his fifth double-double on the season. Mickey did a majority of his damage during the opening half where he racked up 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Keith Hornsby tacked on 13 of his 16 points in the second half. He was 6-of-12 shooting highlighted by a trio of three-pointers.
Jarell Martin nearly compiled a double-double with 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks. With LSU ahead 61-58 at the 4:05 mark, Martin drained a critical three-pointer to enable the Tigers to score 15 of the game’s final 24 points down the stretch.
Off the bench, Tim Quarterman chipped in a solid all-around effort with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Jalyn Patterson filled in for Josh Gray for a majority of the second half. He tacked on four points, five rebounds and three assists.
LSU has won all five games on the 2014-15 season by a margin of 11.6 points per game when the Tigers have had four players secure 10-plus points.
The Tigers (7-2) were 26-of-61 from the floor with 16 assists and 16 of its 26 field goals coming inside the paint. LSU also registered a 5-for-13 mark from three-point territory and knocked down 19-of-26 at the free throw line.
Sam Houston State (5-4) tallied a 25-for-73 shooting clip which included an 8-for-23 mark on three-pointers. The Bearkats were 9-of-15 at the charity stripe and held a 50-42 rebounding advantage. SHSU was led by Jabari Peters’ 15 points.
LSU built a 9-4 advantage and connected on four of its first six shots during the opening four minutes of the contest. Hornsby buried a three-pointer late in the shot clock followed by Mickey jump hook, a John Odo layup and a Mickey midrange jumper on an inbounds play.
LSU misfired on nine of its next 11 shots which enabled Sam Houston State put together 17 of the next 21 points over the next 6:10 off the clock. The Bearkats grabbed a 21-13 edge with 8:39 remaining on a Kaheem Ransom three-pointer.
The Tigers regrouped and drew even at 26-26 after a Mickey bucket off a Hornsby assist. Mickey completed the traditional three-point play to vault LSU ahead 27-26 at the 3:52 mark. Mickey put the finishing touches on his 16-point half by going coast-to-coast capped by a one-handed slam as LSU would take a 34-31 lead going into halftime.
LSU maintained its advantage for the entire second half. Hornsby and Martin sank trifectas 38 seconds while Hornsby added another driving layup to put the Tigers up 44-36 with 16:38 left.
Sam Houston State would get the game inside one possession four times, the latest at 61-58 with 4:05 to go which led into Martin’s three-ball from the left wing.
Martin and Quarterman tacked on layups with Quarterman’s turning into an old fashion three-point play. The Tigers would arrive at the winner’s circle, 76-67, on the strength of an 8-for-9 clip at the free throw line inside the final 91 seconds of the game.
LSU travels to UAB for its final non-conference road game on Thursday. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. from Bartow Arena, and the game will be televised by the CBS College Sports Network.
The LSU Sports Radio Network also will broadcast the game on Eagle 98.1 FM in the Baton Rouge area and inside the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net/live. Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and Kevin Ford will call the action.
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