A wild final minute of basketball took place Saturday when freshman guard Tremont Waters connected on a driving layup with 19 seconds remaining and led to a 64-63 victory against Missouri.
With LSU trailing by one point with 1:42 left, an errant rebound was run down by sophomore guard Skylar Mays who was then pushed in the back for free throws. Mays bounced the front end of a one and one off the front iron.
Facing a three-point deficit with 1:17 to go, the Tigers drew up a pick for Waters who drained a mid range shot, cutting the lead to one and in need of a defensive stop.
LSU got the defensive stop with 27.9 to go and the freshman came through once more.
“That was one of, if not the best, team we’ve beaten,” LSU coach Will Wade said. 
Wade said he’s been looking for his guys to play with more toughness, noting guard Daryl Edwards the leader in that department.  
Saturday was certainly a step in the right direction with sophomore forward Wayde Sims providing a big boost of energy off the bench.
“I feel like he battled with those bigs which made it easier for guards to get in there and grab a rebound,” Waters said.
“I thought Sims did a good job blocking out,” Wade said. “He played well and I thought he played physical.”
The first half was back-and-forth with neither team making a big push and struggling from the field in the first ten minutes. A momentum swing occurred in Missouri’s direction when the road team went on a 6-0 run in 31 seconds following a Waters’ and-1 conversion.
Waters and senior forward Aaron Epps led the way offensively in the first half finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively, as LSU took a 36-33 lead into the break.
A good sign for the Tigers early was that Waters seemed to find his stroke knocking in his first jumper of the day. Waters finished with 21 points in the game including a stretch in the first half where he scored eight straight points for the Tigers.
LSU came out sloppy offensively, not scoring on its first five possessions.
Mays and Waters shot the Tigers out of it with back-to-back threes after a 6-0 start to the half by Missouri.
One area the Tigers did not defend well was behind the arc. After 86 percent from three in the first half with six makes and added six more in the second.
“They do a great job of driving it and kicking it out,” Wade said. “They obviously make a ton of threes and they’re tough. It’s a good win for us.”
The Tigers hit a wall at the 9:30 mark where they could not get anything to fall. LSU went on a five minute scoring drought where they were 0-for-7 yet only trailed by two with 3:56 to go.
There were 19 lead changes and 13 times it was tied with the largest lead being five points in LSU’s favor.
LSU will take on Vanderbilt on Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the PMAC.