Men's Hoops Fall to LSU

Men’s Hoops Fall to LSU

3/10/2006

By TERESA M. WALKER, AP Sports Writer
March 10, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Glen Davis made sure LSU didn’t miss Tyrus Thomas.

Davis matched his career-high of 28 points and finished with 13 rebounds to lead No. 17 LSU to a 92-73 victory over Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals Friday night.

The Tigers reached the tournament semifinals for the fifth time in seven years despite the absence of Thomas, the SEC’s top freshman who sat out with a sprained left ankle. LSU coach John Brady had said he planned to rest him to be as healthy as possible for the NCAA tournament with nothing to prove here.

The SEC’s regular-season champs have not won a league tournament since 1980, but they couldn’t be hotter after winning their seventh straight game. The Tigers (23-7) will play either Arkansas or No. 16 Florida in the semis on Saturday.

Vanderbilt was trying for its second trip to the semifinals in three years, but the Commodores (17-12) had no answer for the 6-foot-9, 310-pound Davis.

Tasmin Mitchell added 20 points, Darnell Lazare had 16 starting in place of Thomas and Garrett Temple finished with 11. The Tigers outrebounded Vanderbilt 34-25 and shot 56.7 percent from the field.

Derrick Byars led Vanderbilt with 17 points. Shan Foster and Julian Terrell each added 13.

LSU took control from the start, scoring the first nine points. Even without Thomas, the SEC’s leading shot blocker and second-leading rebounder, Davis, the SEC coaches’ player of the year, took his first four shots from outside and missed only one.

The Commodores tied it at 10 before Temple hit a 3 to put LSU ahead to stay. Davis didn’t score inside until he drove to the basket with 11:55 left in the first half.

Byars tried to keep Vandy in the game, hitting his first three 3-pointers, the last pulling the Commodores within 30-26.

But Davis, who played every minute of the first half, scrambled after a loose ball and took a referee with him into a crowd of photographers at the end of the court. From there, LSU outscored Vandy 14-4 and took a 44-30 lead into halftime. Davis had 19 points at the break.

The Tigers led by as much as 25 in the second half.