LSU took to the hardwood one last time and closed the 2018 regular season with a win over Mississippi State 78-57.
It was Senior Day at the PMAC and the Tigers brightest stars made their impact felt from the start.
Forward Duop Reath began his senior day with a quick six points in the paint to keep LSU within striking distance after a hot start from Mississippi State.
“It’s about as well as it can go on senior day,” coach Will Wade said. “I thought this was as well as we’ve played in a while. Sometimes as a coach you wonder how much you’ve gotten through to them. They really care about each other and I thought today was a crescendo of that.”
Senior forward Aaron Epps added two early triples as the two big men combining for 14 of LSU’s first 16 points. Epps finished with 16 points on the evening while Reath added 12 points and eight boards.
“Our teammates tried to get us going since it was our last home game,” Reath said. “Shoutout to them for getting us the ball.”
An 11-0 run in the span of a five minutes opened the game up as LSU took an eight point lead, their largest of the half. Mississippi State went on a six minute scoring drought where it went 0-for-9 from the field due to some hellacious defense from the Tigers.
The play of the game went to sophomore Skylar Mays who got the crowd in “oohs” and “ahhs” after a tomahawk jam on three different Bulldogs with 3:19 left in the first.
LSU used that momentum to take a 37-32 lead into the locker room with Epps and Reath leading the way with eight and nine points respectively.
Freshman guard Tremont Waters produced his fifth double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 assists on 5-of-8 shooting.
Waters was ecstatic for senior Reed Vial who started the game and connected on a three pointer as time dwindled.
“It’s a feeling that you really can’t describe,” Waters said. “Obviously he doesn’t play much but he does a lot of things off the court to help the team and coaching staff. It was important for the team to give back to Reed.”
Mississippi State cut the lead to one possession three times in the first 10 minutes of the second half but LSU kept responding with runs of its own and led by five with 10:43 to go.
After six straight games where he failed to break double digits, junior guard Brandon Sampson put up an efficient 16 points and three boards off the bench. A key three point play from Sampson halfway through the second half fought off another Bulldog comeback attempt, with LSU taking a 10 point lead for the first time of the game.
LSU was able to break a full court press that led to easy transition baskets down the stretch with the dagger coming from Epps who connected on a three with two minutes to go.
The Tigers will have to wait and see where they will be for next week’s SEC tournament but in all likelihood will play on Wednesday.
