BATON ROUGE – Senior
James White had the second double-double of his career on the Lakefront, but it was not enough as the LSU Tigers (10-2, 0-0 SEC) pulled away from the University of New Orleans (2-9, 0-1 Southland) on Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, 86-70.
New Orleans was on fire from the floor early, connecting on five of its first six shots on their way to an early 12-4 lead, with
Jah Short and
Dae Dae Hunter each scoring four points by the first media timeout.
The teams traded buckets in a hotly contested first half, with the Privateers maintaining the lead until a Cam Carter three-pointer gave the Tigers their first lead, 28-25, with 1:54 left in the first half. Free throws by Hunter and a putback from
Luke Davis gave UNO a 28-27 lead with just over a minute to play in the half.
Trailing by a single point at the break, the Privateers had a strong opening to the second half, once again taking the lead twice. White's jump shot with 18:55 remaining in the second half and a three-pointer with 16:32 left gave New Orleans its final leads of the contest.
A 24-7 run by the Tigers over the next 5:57 killed all hopes of a Privateer upset. New Orleans shot 37% from the field (25-of-68), compared to the Tigers' 46%. The Privateers made 27% of their three-pointers (6-of-22), while LSU made 24% (7-of-29).
White finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, the second double-double of his UNO career and his third collegiate double-double dating back to his time at Ole Miss. Sunday marked the sixth 20-point game of his UNO career, with two of those coming against Power 5 schools. His 11 rebounds matched his career-high set earlier this season against Lindenwood.
Hunter finished with 14 points after a pair of late threes, while Thomas had 11 points and five rebounds. Davis set a career-high with seven points and four rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.
Four Privateer starters played 36 minutes or more (Jacobs, Hunter, Short, White) in a spirited effort in Baton Rouge. New Orleans also had fewer than 10 turnovers (9) for the second straight game against SEC competition.
Carter and Corey Chest both finished with double-doubles for the Tigers. Carter scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Chest scored 12 points and had 12 rebounds. Vyctorius Miller led LSU with 17 points after shooting 6-of-10 from the field.
The Privateers will take a holiday break before returning to action on Dec. 28 at McNeese. Tipoff at the Legacy Center is set for 4 p.m., with the game airing on ESPN+ and locally on The Ticket 106.1 FM.
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