Saturday’s basketball game between LSU and Vanderbilt at the PMAC looked more like a heavyweight boxing match when three players hit the deck throughout the game.
But the Tigers delivered the final blow in the last 13 minutes and earned an 81-69 win to claim part of the Southeastern Conference Western Division crown in their season finale. LSU won 12 of its last 15 games and earned a perfect conference home record at 8-0 for just the second time in school history. The 1980-81 squad, which made a Final Four appearance went 15-0 overall and 9-0 in conference play at home.
“It’s a great example of staying the course, and things seemed to work out,” LSU coach John Brady said of the squad.
No. 19-ranked Alabama took the other half of the crown with a 68-63 win at Mississippi State earlier in the afternoon. The Crimson Tide claimed the West’s No. 1 seed at this week’s SEC tournament with a better divisional record.
LSU claimed the No. 2 seed and will face the winner of Vanderbilt and Auburn Friday at 8:45 p.m.
Freshman forward Glen Davis, LSU’s biggest player, fell on his head after some physical play under the offensive goal in the first half. Guard Darrell Mitchell, at 5-feet-11-inches, did the same on the defensive end during the second half. Fouls were not called on either occasion, but both players remained on the floor long enough to stop play.
Commodores forward DeMarre Carroll also took a spill through some railing after trying to make a save.
“The longer I coach, I don’t know what a foul is anymore,” Brady said. “I just coached through it. A physical game quite honestly favors us.”
Added Davis: “That’s what we do. We bang. We have an edge on our opponents because we’re real tough down low. You’re going to get some bumps and bruises. This is not a game for little kids.”
Despite the early calls LSU made 34 trips to the charity stripe and sank 21— giving them a 61.8 percentage for the game.
Vanderbilt (18-12, 8-8 Southeastern Conference) chipped LSU’s lead down to one after trailing by 16 points at halftime. Guard Mario Moore’s 3-pointer made the Tigers’ advantage 48-47 with 12:41 remaining. He scored 27 of his game-high 30 points in the second half and made 6-of-11 from 3-point range.
LSU (19-8, 12-4 SEC) extended its lead to double-digits again, 64-52, with a 16-5 run when the 6-foot-9, 300-pound Davis powered over 7-foot-2 Commodores’ center Dawid Prybyszewski, who fouled him in the process.
Senior guards Antonio Hudson and Xavier Whipple also highlighted that run during their last home game.
Hudson launched a 3-pointer during that span after Vanderbilt closed the gap to three. He made 5-of-7 3-pointers and led the Tigers with 25 points, just one shy of his career high.
LSU hit 8-of-16 shots from beyond the arc.
Whipple assisted on an alley-oop slam dunk to Brandon Bass, which electrified the crowd and gave the Tigers an eight point lead with 8:39 left. Bass pulled down his 17th career double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Mitchell’s 3-pointer with 4:11 remaining gave LSU a 70-57 lead. He scored 16 points and made 3-of-6 beyond the arc.
The Commodores never cut the lead under seven again, and the Tigers hit 9-of-12 free throws down the stretch.
The game opened with a defensive struggle. Moore hit a 3-pointer with 5:26 left in the first half to tie the game for the third time, 18-18. The shot came right after LSU’s Davis hit the deck on the other end.
Forward Julian Terrell scored 10 of the Commodores’ first 12 points to tie the score at the 10:16 mark. He scored 21 points and provided Vanderbilt with its only lead, 2-0, with a layup on its first possession.
The Tigers started an 18-2 run after Davis exited the game shaken up. He reentered and gave the Tigers a 27-18 with 3:18 left on a put-back layup after Bass missed a pair of free throws.
LSU led 36-20 at halftime after shooting 44.8 percent from the field in the first half. The Tigers hit 65 percent in the second and finished the game with a 53.1 field-goal percentage.
Vanderbilt shot 32 percent from the field in the half and finished the game with a 43.3 percent average.
“I thought the first 20 minutes we carried our defensive game plan as good as we possibly could,” Brady said.