The EA Sports basketball team gave LSU a run for its money Tuesday night in the PMAC, but in the end the Tigers prevailed in their final exhibition contest of the season, 72-68. Unlike their female counterparts, who defeated their two exhibition opponents by a combined 90 points, the LSU men’s basketball team has encountered some struggles in their two exhibition games this season. Although the Tigers beat Belhaven, 108-57, this past Thursday, it was tough for LSU to find its shooting touch in the first half. The team shot 46 percent from the field before the break and missed all nine of its first-half 3-point attempts in that game. EA Sports challenged the Tigers from the opening tip to the final buzzer. “It was good for us to be able to play with the lead and learn some things,” said LSU coach John Brady. “We didn’t close the game as I would have liked.” EA Sports played LSU close early in the first half, and the Tigers had a 15-13 lead going into a timeout with 11:53 left in the first half. LSU came out of the timeout and went on a 16-0 run to take a 31-13 lead. That comfortable advantage was short-lived as EA Sports closed the half on a 15-6 run to cut LSU’s halftime advantage to 37-28. EA Sports never led after the break, but gave the Tigers stiff competition and kept LSU’s lead in single digits throughout the majority of the second half. LSU shot only 43 percent from the field in the game and hit only nine of its 35 shots from behind the 3-point line. Brady said he wants the Tigers to continue taking quality shots from the perimeter but Wednesday’s total exceeded his desired 3-point count. “I can see us shooting 25 or 24 a night,” Brady said. “I’m still convinced that we have a good shooting team. We certainly haven’t done it in the first two games from behind the arc.” Junior guard Terry Martin, who led LSU in scoring with 17 points, said the poor shooting percentage is something the Tigers will have to occasionally have to deal with throughout the season. “Some nights we’ll be hot, and some nights we won’t,” Martin said. “We’ve got to get our shots.” One player who did not get many shots for LSU was junior forward Tasmin Mitchell. Mitchell, who is the Tigers’ leading returning scorer from this past season, was plagued with foul trouble throughout the game and scored only five points on six shot attempts. “Mitchell played 20 minutes, had five points and we were able to beat this team,” Brady said. “That was a good thing.” Mitchell’s absence did not affect LSU much on the offensive end, but it did affect the Tigers interior defense and rebounding. EA Sports outrebounded LSU, 49-39, and Cory Violette, a 6-foot-8-inch forward from Gonzaga, posted the game’s only double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. With Mitchell on the bench, the Tigers turned to 6-foot-10-inch, 205-pound freshman Anthony Randolph and 205-pound junior center Chris Johnson to anchor the low-post defense. “It was a learning experience, just learning how to play against those big guys because the SEC is really physical,” said Randolph, who scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in the game. LSU opens its regular season with two home contests next week. The Tigers will face Southeastern Louisiana on Monday and McNeese State on Wednesday.
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