LSU found a way to spread the wealth Saturday night against Southeastern Louisiana.
Three Tigers scored in double figures as LSU picked up a 90-61 victory against the Lions in the PMAC.
Senior guard Marcus Thornton led the trio with a season-high 33 points. Junior forward Tasmin Mitchell and sophomore guard Bo Spencer finished with 24 and 17 points, respectively.
“[Head] coach [Trent Johnson] told us from the beginning we were going to come out and we were going to be aggressive,” Spencer said. “We lacked in some places, but we did everything coach told us to.”
Thornton gave Tiger fans a scare when he left the game with 10:40 left to play clutching his right leg.
But the injury turned out to be a cramp, and Thornton eventually returned with 8:08 left to play after an LSU trainer worked on Thornton’s leg for several minutes.
“They got some fluids in me and tried to get me back out there as fast as I could,” Thornton said.
Senior center Chris Johnson had only two points in the contest and didn’t score those points until nine seconds were left on the clock.
Trent Johnson said the Tigers kept their poise after missing a lot of good shots early in the game.
“I don’t worry about that because we’ve got guys that can score the ball and the system takes care of itself,” he said.
The two sides traded baskets early, with three of five tied scores in the first half coming in the first nine minutes of play.
Southeastern Louisiana took its first lead of the game at 15-13 on a layup by Lions freshman guard DeShawn Patterson.
LSU senior guard Garrett Temple tied the game at 15, but Southeastern Louisiana junior center Patrick Sullivan took the lead right back on a jumper.
A driving layup by Spencer gave the Tigers the lead back at 19-17. But Southeastern Louisiana re-tied it at 21 less than three minutes later.
Mitchell hit a layup with 6:55 left in the first frame to give LSU a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the game.
The Denham Springs native stretched LSU’s halftime lead to 39-31 on a put-back with less than a second left.
“We didn’t want to let up on them — we know what this team is capable of,” Mitchell said, referring to the Lions’ close losses to Southeastern Conference rivals Arkansas and Auburn.
Southeastern Louisiana didn’t waste any time scoring in the second half, cutting LSU’s lead to four on jumpers by Sullivan and freshman guard Brandon Fortenberry in the first two minutes.
Lions senior forward Warrell Span drove into the lane and dunked on Spencer after an LSU turnover, exciting the Southeastern Louisiana bench and cutting LSU’s lead to 44-38.
It would be LSU’s smallest lead the rest of the way.
“In the second half, we wanted to put them away and step on their neck,” Temple said. “That’s what we did after that four-minute timeout.”
Trent Johnson took four of his starters out with about three minutes to play when LSU led 85-53, the Tigers’ largest of the game.
“We were pretty good in all phases,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we can take this as momentum and move forward because we are facing a different type of team right now.”
LSU travels to Salt Lake City on Jan. 6 to face Utah in the Tigers’ final non-conference game before SEC play.
Trent Johnson said senior guard Terry Martin will dress out for the Tigers after sitting out four games for undisclosed reasons.
“He will have an opportunity to play provided practice goes well,” Johnson said. “But his suspension is up.”