The LSU Tigers weren’t exactly a well-oiled machine coming into Knoxville on Saturday at 2-9 in the SEC. Nonetheless, the Bayou Bengals gave the Tennessee Volunteers more than perhaps they were bargaining for during a scrappy game at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee managed to escape 73-63, but it took some digging down in the second half to get the job done.
Nate Ament led Tennessee with 22 points and 9 boards, but J.P. Estrella had some huge baskets in the second half to help the Vols escape, finishing
with 16 points on 7-9 shooting with 9 rebounds.
The Vols’ defense was locked in early on, and Tennessee managed to push out an early double-digit lead at 17-7 close to midway through the first half. LSU’s Mazi Mosley knocked down a three, and the Tigers would stay in range thanks to Mosley, who knocked down another one with Tennessee ahead 23-12, which kept the Vols from running and hiding early in the game. Tennessee would take a 31-19 lead, but the Tigers closed on a 10-4 run to make it a six-point game going into the halftime locker room.
LSU brought the game to a dogfight right out of the locker room. Back-to-back threes tied the game up at 35, and the Tigers matched Tennessee basically shot for shot from that point on for most of the next several minutes. The Tigers took their first lead at 42-41 on two free throws and stretched the lead to three on a driving dunk by Marquel Sutton.
A Nate Ament and-one on a VERY generous continuation call gave Tennessee a 49-48 lead going into the under 12 minute timeout.
Fortunately, for Tennessee, they finally, slowly, got control of the game back.
Tied at 50, Ja’Kobi Gillespie got a look on the wing and knocked down a three for the lead for good. After Estrella turned on offensive board into a short putback, Gillespie got off a quick shot at the top of the key for another three and a 58-50 lead.
The Tigers had a couple of late surges in them, with Sutton knocking down a long three to draw to within 64-58 with 6 minutes left. Pablo Tomba made two free throws to make it 68-63 with under two minutes left. But Nate Ament made three free throws to push the lead to 71-63 with under a minute and a half to play, and the Vols made that hold up.
Next up for Tennessee is Oklahoma on Wednesday at home at 7 pm ET.
