The LSU men’s basketball team bounced back today from its first loss of the season Monday and beat EA Sports Maui Invitational host-team Chaminade, 78-72.
The Tigers(3-1) dropped their tournament-opener Monday to Oklahoma State, 83-77.
In LSU’s first two games of the tournament, the Tigers have seen dramatic differences in their second-half play.
The team has combined for 95 points in the second half against Oklahoma State and Chaminade, but the Tigers have only scored a total of 60 points in the first half of their two tournament games.
Freshman forward Anthony Randolph led LSU with 21 points and nine rebounds against Chaminade.
Junior center Chris Johnson, who finished with a career-high 19 points against Oklahoma State, had 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Silverswords.
The Tigers won despite only seven players seeing action in the contest.
Junior forward Tasmin Mitchell played against Oklahoma State, but is out for the remainder of the tournament with a left heel and ankle injury.
Junior guard Dameon Mason traveled with the team to Hawaii but has not played since LSU’s season-opener Nov. 12 against Southeastern Louisiana because of a viral infection.
LSU coach John Brady said in a news release he will further evaluate Mitchell’s condition once the team returns to Baton Rouge.
“I’m not going to put him in a situation where he’s good two games [then] limps around two games,” Brady said. “That’s not fair to him. I’ll just bite the bullet and do what’s necessary with him for his career. We’ll make the determination about what we are going to do with [Mitchell] once we get back to Baton Rouge.”
LSU plays for the tournament’s fifth-place crown Wednesday. They will face the winner of this afternoon’s Princeton-Arizona State game.
—Contact tyler Batiste at [email protected]
Tigers claw past Chaminade, 78-72
November 22, 2007