LSU falls at Missouri
By: Lance Snow
Updated: March 3, 2013
Courtesy LSU Athletics:
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri for the second straight game shot over 50 percent from the field and was able to overcome the strong scoring of LSU senior Charles Carmouche and sophomore Anthony Hickey Saturday afternoon as Missouri earned a split in the season two-game series with an 89-76 win at Mizzou Arena.
The LSU Tigers had defeated Missouri earlier in the conference season (Jan. 31) at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when Missouri was ranked 17th in the nation. LSU falls to 17-10 and 8-8 entering the final week of play while Missouri is now 21-9 and trying to solidify a top-four double bye in the SEC Tournament with a 10-6 record.
Laurence Bowers had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Alex Oriakhi had 18 points, 10 boards and four blocks for Missouri. Phil Pressey added 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
Anthony Hickey posted career bests of 22 points and six 3-pointers for LSU, while Charles Carmouche had his third consecutive 20-ploint game with 21 points and five 3-pointers. Johnny O'Bryant III had 18 points.
Missouri shot 58.1 percent for the game (36-62), including 18-of-29 (62.1%) in the second half. LSU also took 62 shots, but made just 26 (41.9 percent), but shot 42.9 percent from the arc, equaling a season high with 12 treys. LSU had just 10 turnovers in the game, but Oklahoma State was able to get 15 points off those miscues, while the LSU Tigers were able to just get 7 points off the 11 Mizzou turnovers.
The most glaring stat in Missouri's favor was a 52-24 advantage in points in the paint in the contest.
Missouri took an early 6-0 lead, hyping up the crowd of 14,212 in the Mizzou Arena, but LSU was hot early from the arc, building as much as a 25-12 lead at the 10:31 mark. But Missouri began to assert its will, outscoring LSU 31-14 the rest of the way to take a 43-39 halftime advantage over LSU.
In the second half, Mizzou was able to get the lead to double digits in the first five minutes and pretty much stayed that way throughout the second half, getting as big as a 15 points lead on two occasions. LSU had a brief flurry that got the lead down to eight, 80-72, with 3:03 to play, but Missouri was able to give LSU at bay the rest of the way for the win.
In all, Missouri had five players in double figures with Earnest Ross getting 13 and Keion Bell 11.
Carmouche became the first LSU player to have three consecutive 20-point NBA games since Bo Spencer in December 2009. He has had 20-plus in four-of-the-last-five games for the Tigers. Carmouche also did a good job in the game distributing the ball with five assists with no turnovers while playing all 40 minutes.
