National Basketball Association
Louisiana State 67, North Texas 58
When: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, December 22, 2011
Where: The Super Pit, Denton, Texas
Officials:
# Lee Cassell, # Marc Ellard, # Mike Nance
Attendance:
6838
By SportsDirect Inc.
Seniors Storm Warren and Malcolm White combined for 27 points off the bench and Louisiana State followed up its biggest win in nearly three years with a sixth straight victory, a 67-58 decision over host North Texas Thursday.
Justin Hamilton added 14 points for Tigers (9-3), who avoided a letdown after upsetting No. 10 Marquette on Monday. That was LSU’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2009 and a huge confidence booster for a program that has suffered through consecutive 11-win seasons.
North Texas (6-6) was one of the teams that beat up on the Tigers during that rough stretch. The Mean Green, led by former LSU guard and assistant coach Johnny Jones, rolled to a 75-55 road victory in the first-ever meeting last season.
But despite missing leading scorer Andre Stringer for a fourth straight game, the Tigers returned the favor by ending the Mean Green’s four-game winning streak. North Texas' 17-game non-conference home winning streak also came to an end.
Chris Jones scored 15 points and highly-touted freshman transfer Tony Mitchell added 11 for the Mean Green, which became the sixth straight opponent to score less than 60 points against LSU.
The teams were tied at 35 after 20 minutes, but the Tigers opened the second half on a 14-5 run. North Texas pulled to within 50-54 with 8:26 to play, but Chris Bass hit a 3-pointer before back-to-back jumpers from Hamilton extended the lead to 11 points with just under five minutes remaining.
The Mean Green never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Top Game Performances
Louisiana State |
|
North Texas |
Storm Warren 15 |
Scoring |
Chris Jones 15 |
John Isaac 2 |
Assists |
Chris Jones 3 |
Johnny O'Bryant III 10 |
Rebounds |
Kendrick Hogans 6 |
Johnny O'Bryant III 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Chris Jones 5 |
Anthony Hickey 4 |
Steals |
Roger Franklin 1 |
N/A |
Blocks |
Tony Mitchell 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Louisiana State
|
67 |
43.9 |
1-11 |
8-12 |
5 |
39 |
0 |
9 |
11 |
North Texas
|
58 |
40.9 |
2-15 |
20-26 |
6 |
28 |
3 |
4 |
14 |