Someone had to pick up its first Southeastern Conference win in Saturday night’s men’s basketball matchup between LSU and Florida in Gainesville, Fla., and the Gators came through victorious, 72-58.
Coming into the game, both teams combined for a 0-4 record in the SEC, but a dominating second half by Florida proved to be the difference in the game.
The Gators (12-5, 1-2) shot 52 percent from the field in the second half, including going 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
Florida had five players score in double-digits, and freshman guard Kenny Boynton led the squad in scoring with 18 points and five assists.
Things looked promising for LSU (9-8, 0-3) going into halftime, when the Tigers closed a 15 point deficit to seven by going on a 13-5 run to close the first half.
But LSU’s scoring was almost nonexistent in the second half. The Tigers trailed by as many as 24 points in the final half and only managed to score six points in the first nine minutes of the 20-minute half.
Senior forward Tasmin Mitchell led the Tigers with 17 points and nine rebounds, and he scored 15 of the Tigers’ 30 first-half points. Mitchell’s two points and one rebound in the second half told the story for the Tigers in the half, who shot 39.4 percent from the field in the half and were out-rebounded by the Gators by four.
LSU will come back to the PMAC on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to face Auburn, who is also searching for its first win against SEC competition.
 
—-Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]