Just nine days after the LSU men’s basketball team nearly dropped a home game to McNeese State, the Tigers found their backs against the PMAC wall against Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday.”They were pretty good, and we weren’t,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “It’s not on the players as much as it’s on me. One of the things I’ve realized throughout the years is you play like you practice. Obviously I didn’t push enough of the right buttons the last two days.”While it wasn’t the way Johnson had hoped to end the 2008 calendar year, his team did enough to escape the Ragin’ Cajuns with a 81-79 win, the Tigers’ 73rd consecutive win against in-state competition.”It shouldn’t have been that close,” said LSU senior guard Garrett Temple. “When you give a team confidence like that, anything can happen at the end. But the win is all that matters.”The Tigers seemed on the verge of wrapping the game up several times in the second half, but Louisiana-Lafayette wouldn’t quit.LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell hit a shot in the lane to put his team ahead, 78-73, with 24 seconds remaining.But Randell Daigle, a 5-foot-10-inch junior, quickly answered with a contested, double-clutch 3-pointer to cut the LSU lead to 78-76.”If you give a team confidence and they’ve made some shots before, they think they can compete with you,” Temple said. “They’re going to take shots and make shots that they wouldn’t usually make.”The Cajuns fouled LSU senior guard Marcus Thornton on the ensuing in-bound pass, and Thornton knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 80-76.And Louisiana-Lafayette made their final, fatal mistake when sophomore forward Travis Bureau rushed the in-bound pass upcourt into Thornton’s waiting hands.”I read the man’s eyes at the end of the game,” Thornton said. ” I knew he was going to try to get it up the court fast, and I just stepped in front of it and tried to go knock down the free throws to seal the game.”Thornton split a pair of free throws with three seconds remaining to push the lead to 81-76.Daigle hit another 3-pointer as the horn sounded on the come-back bid, and the Tigers squeaked out another close victory against a Louisiana school.Mitchell led the Tigers with 25 points, a new career high. “I was feeling very comfortable,” Mitchell said. “My teammates put me in position to score the ball, and I tried to capitalize on that.”Sophomore guard Bo Spencer finished with 20, and Thornton and Temple added 12 and 10 points, respectively.Senior center Chris Johnson tossed in 8 points and 13 rebounds.Temple and Spencer passed out six and four assists, respectively, and Spencer also spent more than his share of time on the ground, going all out on loose balls and defended layups.”One of my favorite players is Allen Iverson, and he’s banged up all the time. He’s always hitting the deck,” Spencer said. “I’m not saying I’m Allen Iverson, but I like to be tough like him. My high school coach always told me to be tough.”Spencer battled most of the game with Daigle, who led the Cajuns with 24 points. Bureau and sophomore guard Chris Gradnigo added 13 each for Louisiana-Lafayette, and junior guard La’Ryan Gary pitched in 11 points.Twenty-two of Daigle’s points came after halftime, as the Cajuns outscored the Tigers 48-41 in the second half.”We lost our poise,” Trent Johnson said. “We gave up 48 points in the second half on our home floor. That’s not acceptable.”The contest comes after a close game against Washington State on Saturday. Trent Johnson said his team needs to learn to bounce back better from tough games.”We beat Washington State, a good basketball team. We played well,” Trent Johnson said. “And we came back and didn’t play very well at home against a team that’s 4-8 … We’ve got to get to where we come off emotional, hard-fought losses or wins — where we have a day off, and then we have a game — we’ve got to play. We’ve got to play well.”LSU will have a chance to bounce back from the Louisiana-Lafayette game and extend their winning streak against in-state competition against Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. Saturday in the PMAC.”We’re the flagship University in the state of Louisiana, and we’re trying to play basketball like that,” Temple said. “Hopefully we can get this last one against Southeastern and be able to keep this streak going.”