Florida men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan said he couldn’t blame his team’s play for a second-half LSU run that led to the Tigers’ 81-75 win Tuesday night.”I think we were playing against the best team in the league right now with a whole bunch of seniors,” Donovan said.With the win, the Tigers clinched no worse than a tie for the Southeastern Conference’s regular season crown.”Nobody but the people in the locker room thought we were going to be 12-1 after 13 games in the SEC,” said LSU senior guard Garrett Temple.Temple tallied a career-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including going 3-of-4 from the 3-point line.The teams traded leads for most of the second half until LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell hit two free throws to give the Tigers a 60-58 lead with 10 minutes remaining.A Temple 3-pointer gave the Tigers a 5-point lead.Mitchell then converted a layup to stretch the lead to 65-58 with 9:07 left in the game.LSU didn’t trail the rest of the game.Mitchell finished with 12 points in the game.The Tigers went into the game coming off a 79-72 victory Saturday against Auburn.LSU sophomore point guard Bo Spencer made an immediate impact in his return to the starting lineup from an ankle injury, scoring 14 points.”He was able to back them off initially because to start the game we couldn’t stop them from scoring,” Johnson said. “Bo’s ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter really helped us [Saturday].”All five LSU starters reached double figures and combined for all but two of the Tigers’ points. Senior guard Marcus Thornton had 25 points and seven rebounds.What was a weakness for LSU in recent games was a strength against Auburn — the Tigers shot 95.5 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 21-of-22 free throws.LSU hadn’t shot more than 80 percent since its 76-62 win against Alabama on Feb. 8.”That’s the good thing about this group,” Johnson said. “When they don’t have success in every facet of the game, they address it themselves by making a conscious effort at practice and at shootaround to hit free throws.”Everything seemed to come together for the Tigers, but Johnson said that was not the case.”This destiny stuff and runs — I don’t believe in that,” Johnson said. “You don’t win as many games as we’ve won without being good.”LADY TIGERS HOLD OFF KENTUCKYThe LSU basketball teams went a perfect 3-0 during the Mardi Gras break as a strong second half by LSU junior guard Allison Hightower lifted the Lady Tigers to a 57-56 victory Sunday against Kentucky.Hightower scored 18 of her 20 points in the half and blocked a last-second 3-point attempt by Kentucky sophomore guard Carly Marrow.”I thought Allison made a great play,” LSU coach Van Chancellor said in his postgame press conference. “She was beat bad, and she didn’t give up. She recovered and used her long arms to block the ball. When I saw we had the ball that was as happy as I’d been in while.”Chancellor said LSU needed a win against Kentucky to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.”We turned the ball over too much and did a lot of things I didn’t want to do, but we still won the game,” he said. “I am as relieved right now as I’ve ever been because we could not afford to lose this game.”The victory put the Lady Tigers in a tie for fourth place in the SEC with Tennessee, which LSU faces tonight.—-Contact Amos Morale at [email protected]