Tari Eason had 25 points and 12 rebounds as LSU defeated Texas A&M 76-68 on Tuesday night in College Station, Texas.
Brandon Murray added 14 points, Xavier Pinson scored 11 in his most significant playing time since suffering a sprained right knee a month ago and Darius Days had 10 for LSU, which made 8 of 16 3-pointers.
The Tigers (17-7, 5-6 SEC) won in their first game since dropping out of the AP Top 25 on Monday after losing six of their previous seven games. Their only victory during that stretch was a 70-64 home victory against the Aggies (15-9, 4-7) on Jan. 26.
Tyrece Radford scored 15 points, Henry Coleman III had 12 points and 12 rebounds, Wade Taylor IV scored 12 and Quenton Jackson 11 to lead Texas A&M, which lost its seventh game in a row.
LSU, which had allowed an average of 76 points per game since the first meeting with the Aggies, held them to 16 first-half points and 32.8 percent shooting from the floor for the game.
Taylor made a 3-pointer to start a 9-3 run by the Aggies at the start of the second half. That pulled them within 39-25 before Pinson answered with a 3-pointer and a layup that helped the Tigers open a 46-28 lead.
Texas A&M scored the next 10 points, but Eason responded with 11 straight points that gave LSU a 57-40 lead.
The Aggies got within nine, but Eric Gaines made two free throws and added a layup to put the Tigers in control.
Jackson scored five points as the Aggies took an 11-9 lead before hitting a lengthy scoring slump.
Pinson scored five points and Days added four as the Tigers went on a 19-2 run to take a 28-13 lead.
Manny Obaseki’s basket provided Texas A&M’s only points during the run, which spanned more than 10 minutes.
Obaseki made another basket and Hayden Hefner added a free throw before Murray’s 3-pointer and Eason’s layup gave LSU a 36-16 halftime lead.
The Tigers made 7 of 10 3-pointers in the first half.
–Field Level Media
