Before the basketball game between No. 7 Mississippi State and LSU, all the buzz was about the Bulldogs all-conference center Mario Austin and how the Tigers were going to go about stopping him.
However, judging from the performance of LSU’s junior college sensation Jaime Lloreda in Saturday night’s matchup in the PMAC, it seems MSU head coach Rick Stansbury should have paid more attention to the native of Panama.
Lloreda scored 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds and made numerous hustle plays as he led the Tigers to an 85-72 win over MSU in front of 10,442 electrified fans.
“Since we have been here as a coaching staff, we have had some nice wins,” said LSU head coach John Brady. “I have been this proud, but I have not been prouder of a team and they way they executed tonight. I just thought it was a total team effort. We had good play from a couple of our bench guys, and it was a nice, executed basketball game for our team. It was a good win for us.”
As Brady said, the best way to describe the win was that of a team effort.
Senior point guard Torris Bright had one of his best efforts as a Tiger, shooting 7-of-7 from the field for 17 points and dishing out 10 assists compared to just three turnovers.
“There have been a lot of point guards come through LSU and have nice games, but I do not know if a point guard at LSU has had that kind of game in a long, long time,” Brady said. “That is an incredible night. Somebody needs to write about that.”
All-SEC performer Ronald Dupree added 18 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman Darrel Mitchell chipped in with 12 points and three jaw dropping steals. Backup center Brad Bridgewater also did an admirable job going 3-for-3 from the floor and making Austin work on defense.
The game started out with each team trading baskets until LSU went on a 7-0 run
to take an early 22-13 lead.
The Tigers’ lead increased to 12 when they went ahead 32-20 with 3:48 remaining in the half, but the Bulldogs were able to pull within 6 on three Timmy Bowers three pointers in the last 3:18. The score at the half was 39-33.
The second half was one of runs, but LSU never relinquished the lead. The Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run in the beginning on the second half, as they tightened the score to 54-52 with 12:10 remaining. But the Tigers responded with a 16-8 run of their own, and never looked back.
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Bowers and Austin, who both scored 17.
The Tigers return to action Wednesday, when they play Centenary at the PMAC at 7 p.m.