The LSU men’s basketball team won a basketball game.Let that sink in for a moment. The 12-game losing streak is done. More importantly, the zero is gone from the Southeastern Conference win column. It wasn’t even close. The Tigers (10-17, 1-12) snatched their first conference win with a dominant 65-54 win against Arkansas (14-14, 7-6), who beat LSU by 35 points just a week ago. Senior forward Tasmin Mitchell led LSU with 16 points, and junior guard Bo Spencer scored 10 points in the winning effort. “It’s been a long time,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “I forgot how it felt [to win]. It’s interesting, for me, I slept good last night. That’s a problem. I woke up later than I ever have. Maybe I should just start sleeping and stop coaching.”Whatever Johnson did, it worked. The Tigers had eight players score in the contest. Such balance was a scarcity during the 12-game drought.”It felt good,” Johnson said. “The tempo was to our liking, but looking up there and seeing us up 13 or 14 against a team of this caliber felt nice.”The Tigers pounced early. A 10-0 run to open the game set the tone. Tonight was different. “It’s a big win for the team and the program,” Mitchell said. “We had a goose egg in the SEC. It was messing with our psyche. Hopefully we’ll have some momentum going into the next game.”The lead didn’t fade. The gap got as high as 15, with LSU taking a 33-18 lead into the break. Mitchell led the effort with 12 points at the break, while seven other Tigers scored in what was arguably LSU’s best half of the season. “We came out with a good spurt and had a good lead,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t want to let that get away from us.”It didn’t stop there. Playing well for 20 minutes had been LSU’s synopsis for the entire season, but again, tonight was different. “A few minutes into the second half, I started feeling like we were going to pull it out,” Mitchell said.He almost spoke too soon. The Razorbacks finally made their run with about a minute left in the game. Behind sophomore guard Courtney Fortson, Arkansas closed the game to eight points with 52 seconds remaining. Fans and players alike started to get anxious. LSU held fast. Spencer fired in four-straight free throws to ice the game. “That’s basketball,” Mitchell said. “A big lead can be taken from you real fast. We jumped out early, but we knew everybody makes their run at some point. It was up to us to stay poised, stay with the game plan and win the game.”Freshman guard Daron Populist, a walk on, helped the Tigers keep calm down the stretch. Relentless pressure from the Razorbacks didn’t faze him much. “I think a guy who was really effective tonight for us was Daron Populist,” Johnson said. “He remains to be under control, remains poised. He does an excellent job on scout team for us.”Populist accepted the praise gracefully. “It feels good,” Populist said. “I’m humbled. I’m just glad to get this win and move on to the next game.”The defense, for the most part, paved the way for the LSU win. LSU’s zone defense blanketed Razorback junior guard Rotnei Clarke and Fortson — normally lethal threats from 3-point range — for most of the contest. “Whether it’s a zone or a man, I think we’ve gotten better because of our intensity and our effort,” Johnson said. “Getting to shooters, proper closeouts, things that are repetition, it was only a matter of time before this young team figured it out.”LSU sophomore forward Storm Warren proved to be crucial to thwarting Arkansas’ firepower. Warren finished with five steals and three blocks to go along with eight points. “We just never quit,” Warren said. “We just keep coming.”The Tiger effort was sparkling for the third-straight game. An embarrassing 35-point loss against this same Arkansas team just 14 days ago proved to be rock bottom for LSU. “I was really curious to see how we were going to be today,” Johnson said. “Were we going to come out like we did against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State and compete? We did.”—-Contact Chris Branch at [email protected].