BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU coach John Brady was certainly
pleased with a pair of his newcomers following the first game of
the season.
Junior college transfer Marcus Thornton and freshman Anthony
Randolph combined for 46 points as LSU opened its season with a
72-62 victory against Southeastern Louisiana on Monday.
Thornton made eight of 14 field goals, including 4-of-7 from
3-point range, en route to 27 points. Randolph was seven of 11 from
the floor and finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked
shots.
"It's a good thing we signed those two guys," Brady said.
"That's why we brought them in here -- to do that for the team. I
said that both of them will have an impact on our team and both did
in the first game."
Southeastern Louisiana stayed close to LSU through the game's
first 25 minutes until a 3-pointer by Thornton, with 15:14
remaining, gave the Tigers a 42-39 lead. That basket started a
string of 14 consecutive points for LSU.
Following Thornton's long-range shot, Randolph made three
straight field goals. A basket by freshman Bo Spencer and a
three-point play by Thornton closed the spurt which left the Tigers
ahead 53-39.
The Lions got no closer than seven points.
"At halftime, coach (Brady) told me to let the game come to me
and not try to force anything," Thornton said. "I forced some
things at the start of the game."
"I almost threw up before I came up at the start of the game,"
Randolph said. "I was so nervous. In the second half, I realized
it was just another game."
Patrick Sullivan had a double-double for the Lions with 10
points and 14 rebounds. Warrell Span led Southeastern (1-1) with 14
points while Tavaris Nance and Dekyron Nicks each had 11 points.
"The game was within our grasp," Southeastern Louisiana coach
Jim Yarbrough said. "I was disappointed that we didn't get the
benefit of some of the execution of our plays and finishing around
the basket. I'm sure LSU's length and quickness bothered us a
little bit."
Trailing since the game's start, Southeastern Louisiana took a
29-27 lead on a basket by Nance with 30 seconds remaining in the
half. After a technical foul against Brady for being out of the
coaching box, Nicks made one foul shot to cap a 10-0 Lions run.
The Tigers, whose biggest first-half lead was 12 points, tied
the score at the end of the first half on a 3-pointer by Thornton.
Southeastern Louisiana shot 32 percent from the field, compared
to 51 percent for the Tigers, and committed nine turnovers in the
first half.
"In the second half, we gave up just three offensive rebounds
and made only three turnovers," Brady said. "That was the
difference in us winning the game."